Branded is a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture.
This month, Modelo Especial became the top-selling beer in the United States, surpassing longtime sales-champion Bud Light. So far, Modelo Especial’s crowning has largely been explained less in terms of Modelo’s rise than in terms of the dethroned Bud Light’s fall. That’s understandable: The culture-war spectacle spilling over from Bud Light’s minor association with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and its apparent damage to sales, has become perhaps the most sensational marketing story of the year.
But this has overshadowed the fact that Especial was the No. 2 seller waiting in the wings—quietly outselling fellow imports like Corona, Heineken, and Stella Artois as well as brands Miller Lite, Coors Light, and Bud itself.
The Modelo brand dates back to the 1920s and has built market share very gradually over time. But a good chunk of its growth has actually come pretty recently: A decade ago, Especial wasn’t even in the top 10. Its rise is a result partly of shifting demographics, changing tastes, and some solid, if not exactly flashy, marketing.
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