The taps are opened ...

Anheuser-Busch plans an overall 25 percent Hispanic market spending increase this year, and other brewers are also stepping up its efforts to sell more cerveza to Hispanics. An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch outlines some of the efforts A-B is making and has been making.

Among them was the roll out of Chelada aimed at Mexicans. The drink combines a tomato cocktail with Budweiser or Bud Light, and was in response to the already popular drink of mixing beer with clamato, which is extending beyond Hispanics.

Of particular note is the research that A-B did, and the subcategories of beer drinkers they determined such as loyalists, trendsetters and sippers. A-B is going beyond general horizontal marketing outreach to a more vertical appeal to subgroups. This is important as trends do change and Hispanic beer trendsetters are important to influence, as they are in any market.