The Best Beer Company in a Better World - Anheuser-Busch InBev

10 | Annual Report 2008 The Language we speak
Execution in the marketplace
World Class Commercial Program
Anheuser-Busch InBev is a consumer-centric and sales driven
company, and we are continually working towards best in class
marketing and sales. We have to outpace and out-execute our
competitors with a sense of urgency to win with consumers at the
Point of Connection.
Our World Class Commercial Program (WCCP) is an integrated
marketing and sales Excellence Program. It is designed to
continuously improve the quality of our marketing capabilities
and processes by ensuring they are understood and consistently
followed. It also aims to help all our sales teams to implement the
right processes in eight core categories to help drive volume,
market share and EBITDA.
WCCP Marketing covers three main processes: defining the
country brand portfolio, planning and activating connections,
and renovating and innovating.
WCCP Sales covers eight core categories and the links between
them; management; people; field sales management; wholesaler
management; key accounts; pricing; market programs, and
cost-to-serve. The program is also a best practice training and
sharing platform designed to establish a cycle of continuous
improvement across all markets. At the heart of its growth is Point
of Connection research followed by analysis, followed by action.
WCCP Sales is not just about selling; it is about selling in the right
way with the right processes.
The single biggest achievement of WCCP in 2008 was effective
global alignment, in which all of our top ten markets shared
processes that really helped them to achieve results. If one of our
marketing and sales people moves from Russia to Argentina, they
recognize the WCCP marketing and sales process immediately.
World-class efficiency drives every
part of our production, supply,
planning, sales and marketing cycle,
wherever we do business, and
whatever the wider economic
circumstances.
Financial and operational efficiency
Keeping a tight grip on costs enables us to be leaner and fitter to
face the challenges of the marketplace, and to invest more in our
focus brands.
Zero-Based Budgeting
Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) is the basis for our financial
efficiency. It is being implemented in the U.S. after having
achieved a high level of maturity in most of the other Zones in
2008, positioning us well for tough times. For our employees,
ZBB has now become a way of life. Implemented correctly,
the ZBB process is the perfect companion to our VBB strategy,
enabling us to partly feed savings and revenue directly into the
market by putting it behind our most successful focus brands.
ZBB in action: Latin America South
A number of best practice processes which were launched in Latin
America South in 2007 started to have a positive impact in terms
of savings and budgeting flexibility in 2008. These included a
Business Service Center (BSC), a Procurement Center and the
ZBB process.
These processes gave the sales and marketing team additional
flexibility, which helped to turn a good year into a great one.
Savings were reinvested in the marketplace and marketing to
create a virtuous cycle of growth.
Investment in the sales and marketing processes increased by
20%, accelerating a raft of point of sale placements, new TV
campaigns for Quilmes Red and making the Quilmes Rock event
even bigger and better.
ZBB: Four years on (Canada)
Although 2008 was the fourth year of ZBB in Canada, there were
still many new people given package ownership and a number
of new cost-saving measures implemented. A Local Package
Owners program was launched, bringing 125 people into ZBB
ownership. In addition, the Business Service Center (BSC) drove
new efficiencies, and monthly meetings were held to analyze
results and challenge unfavorable variances.