Can you pick out your brew?

This is so obvious that it requires no comment on my part.

Put samples of half a dozen or so mass-market American beers before a panel of drinkers in a blind taste test, and even the most confirmed quaffers would be lucky to match two to the right brand.



But put half a dozen or so mass-market American beer advertising slogans or jingles before a panel of testers, and even teetotalers with some exposure to media would come close to a perfect score.



Try it yourself:

• It's the water


• From the land of sky-blue waters


• The beer that made Milwaukee famous


• The one beer to have when you're having more than one


• The king of beers


• The champagne of beers
• 
  

That even non-imbibers would score well on such a quiz (some of you are not just humming the melody of the jingle but finishing out the verse) is testimony not only to the pervasive nature of mass-market advertising channels when combined with a memorable message. It's also evidence of the power of advertising to create brand identity — and customer loyalty — out of what is basically a commodity product, in which one brand is largely indistinguishable from another.

Read the entire article at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.