Anheuser-Busch needed a credible innovation pipeline for Gen Z drinkers, a cohort whose drinking behaviors, values and category attitudes differ sharply from the Millennial and Gen X consumers its legacy brands were built for. Vivaldi Group combined consumer insight research with founders-mindset innovation workshops, in which teams developed concepts as if starting a new beverage company today. The work produced seven validated Gen Z beverage concepts across three strategic platforms, ready for development and market testing.
Anheuser-Busch needed a credible pipeline of beverage innovation concepts designed for Gen Z consumers, a cohort with distinct drinking behaviors, values and category attitudes that differed significantly from the Millennial and Gen X customers its legacy brands were built for.
Vivaldi facilitated founders-mindset innovation workshops grounded in consumer insight research on how Gen Z relates to alcohol, social occasions and lifestyle categories. Structured ideation then clustered the ideas into three strategic platforms so that concepts reinforced each other rather than competing.
Seven validated innovation concepts emerged across three strategic platforms, giving Anheuser-Busch a structured pipeline of Gen Z-relevant beverage ideas that could be advanced through development and market testing.
| Client | Anheuser-Busch, the largest beer company in the United States (AB InBev) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Alcohol, beer and beverages |
| Region | United States |
| Target | Gen Z drinkers of legal drinking age |
| Vivaldi scope | Consumer insight research, founders-mindset innovation workshops, platform architecture, concept development (growth strategy and innovation, brand and product portfolio strategy) |
| Outcome | 7 validated beverage concepts across 3 strategic platforms, ready for development and market testing |
Gen Z drinks less and drinks differently than Millennials did at the same age. The cohort weighs different attributes, shows more interest in functional and lifestyle benefits, and holds category attitudes shaped by sober-curious culture, mental health and price sensitivity. Innovation built on Millennial preferences misses the generation that will drive the next decade of the category.
Anheuser-Busch’s portfolio, from Budweiser to Michelob Ultra, was built for earlier generations. The company needed concepts grounded in how Gen Z actually behaves, not in what an existing brand team expected.
Vivaldi’s workshops asked participants to develop concepts as if they were starting a new beverage company today, with no portfolio to protect and no internal politics to navigate. That frame strips away the incrementalism legacy CPG innovation defaults to. The ideation was anchored in primary research on Gen Z’s relationship with alcohol, social occasions and lifestyle categories, so it ran on a fact base rather than executive intuition.
The concepts were then clustered into three strategic platforms, so the seven ideas formed a coherent portfolio architecture instead of seven competing bets. Vivaldi’s guide to Gen Z brand strategy sets out what the cohort expects from brands.
Anheuser-Busch is one of the 15 innovation strategy examples Vivaldi has published with their outcomes.
Anheuser-Busch partnered with Vivaldi to develop a beverage innovation pipeline specifically designed for Gen Z drinkers, whose category attitudes diverge from the Millennial and Gen X consumers its legacy brands were built for. Vivaldi’s founders-mindset workshops combined consumer insight research with structured ideation to generate seven validated concepts across three strategic platforms, giving Anheuser-Busch a culturally grounded and commercially viable innovation pipeline ready for development and market testing.
Anheuser-Busch is the largest beer company in the United States and a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer by volume, with revenues exceeding $57 billion. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Anheuser-Busch’s portfolio includes Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra and dozens of other brands sold across all 50 states. The company brews more than 100 million barrels of beer annually.
Seven validated Gen Z beverage concepts across three strategic platforms. Vivaldi combined consumer insight research with founders-mindset workshops, giving Anheuser-Busch a culturally grounded, commercially viable innovation pipeline ready for development and market testing.
The workshops were anchored in primary research on how Gen Z relates to alcohol, social occasions and lifestyle categories, so ideation ran on facts rather than intuition. The concepts were then clustered into three strategic platforms, so the seven ideas reinforced each other inside one portfolio architecture.
Because Gen Z drinks less, drinks differently and weighs different attributes, with more interest in functional and lifestyle benefits and attitudes shaped by sober-curious culture and price sensitivity. Innovation built for Millennial preferences misses the cohort that will drive the category’s next decade.
A workshop where participants develop concepts as if they were starting a new company today, with no existing portfolio to protect and no internal politics to navigate. The frame strips away the incrementalism of legacy innovation, which is why the resulting concepts tend to be more category-defining than line extensions.
