Anheuser-Busch Selects Starcom to Augment Media Planning Capabilities for Industry-Leading Brand Portfolio

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Nov 04, 2011, 11:51 ET

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Anheuser-Busch, the leading American brewer and maker of Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA and Stella Artois, today announced its selection of Starcom to complement its internal media planning and research capabilities.

Effective immediately, Starcom will assist Anheuser-Busch and its in-house media planning and buying unit, Busch Media Group, with research and planning duties for all the company's beer brands across national, local and digital media.

"Starcom impressed us with their planning and research capabilities, investment in media planning tools and strong team of people," said Paul Chibe, Anheuser-Busch's vice president of U.S. marketing. "They will enable Busch Media Group to maintain and expand upon our category-leading capabilities, and we look forward to their contributions."

"The Anheuser-Busch brand teams and Busch Media Group are some of the savviest marketing minds in the business, and we're thrilled to be part of their core team," said Starcom CEO Lisa Donohue. "Our team is excited to apply our unique experience and planning approach to Anheuser-Busch's iconic brands."

About Anheuser-Busch

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.3 percent share of U.S. beer sales to retailers in 2010. The company brews popular brands, such as Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico's leading brewer. Anheuser-Busch is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, and continues to operate under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

About Starcom USA

Starcom (www.starcomworldwide.com) is a world-renowned media agency that simplifies human understanding to deliver meaningful brand experiences through its unique Space for Ideas™ approach to communication planning. With over 1,200 employees and an estimated $9.1 billion in billings in the U.S., Starcom helps get the right consumers' attention and delivers brand-building results for many of the world's leading companies. Starcom is part of Publicis Groupe (Euronext Paris: FR0000130577) the world's third-largest communications group, the world's second-largest media counsel and buying group, and a global leader in digital and health care communications. With around-the-world activities spanning more than 104 countries on five continents, the Groupe employs as many as 44,000 professionals. With sister agencies MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia, Denuo, Digitas and Razorfish, Starcom is a member of Publicis Groupe's VivaKi, a global digital knowledge and resource center that leverages the combined scale of the autonomous operations of its members to develop new services, new tools and new partnerships.

SOURCE Anheuser-Busch