Real American Beer is setting its sights on becoming as “big as Bud Light” through a creative marketing strategy that pays homage to its late founder, Hulk Hogan.
It leans on campaigns like alligator hunting and a squad of “Real American Girls” to promote its product. Everyone at the startup, led by former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Terri Francis, committed to this mission. Francis told FOX Business that it had been Hogan’s dream before his death in July 2025 at age 71, just over a year after launching the company.
“His goal was that this would be bigger than Bud Light, and… now we have to carry that out,” said Francis, Real American Beer’s CEO, adding that Hogan wanted his beer company to leave a bigger legacy than his wrestling career.
“I feel a deep responsibility to carry out what he started,” Francis said.
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Francis said the company has a creative plan to stand out from rivals who she believes have missed the mark on how to market beer. She said the company won’t be “pushing a message of beer” but will become part of “moments that are out of the ordinary.” It’s a nod to Hogan, who she said had a unique ability to excite and energize those around him.
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Real American Beer aims to set itself apart from rivals by making the beer a part of a meaningful experience rather than focusing on the product itself. It’s a tactic, according to Francis, that is unlike most beer marketing, which centers on the product itself.
The company is deploying a group of “Real American Girls” to talk about the beer and engage with customers at events. As Francis sees it, the company is putting a face to a brand “in a world where there are a lot of faceless brands.”
Recently, the company also created a campaign that showcased people drinking Real American Beer while hunting for alligators.
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The company also plans to make investments in country music as well as expand its partnership with NASCAR. It also created its own Real American Freestyle wrestling league with FOX Nation.
Earlier this year, the company announced a multi-year partnership with WWE, under which Real American Beer will be featured across WWE’s flagship programming, including “Monday Night Raw.”
WWE also became a minority owner in the beer brand, which is now sold in 20 states. In April, it secured a deal with Walmart to be in stores across eight states: Florida, Illinois, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin.
While Dave Williams, president of Bump Williams Consulting, said any new beer brand would be “hard-pressed to catch up to the size of any of the current premium leaders” such as Bud Light and Miller, he believes that “there remains a lot of lager-drinking beer consumers out there across the country, which to me still reads as an opportunity.”
Especially in the domestic lager market, which remains huge, even grabbing 1% of market share can mean big sales, according to Williams. But that still won’t be easy. He noted that this is also one of the toughest segments to break into, given that the major brands have the means to remain dominant with massive marketing and distribution power.
Williams noted that some regional and heritage brands, like Lone Star, Rainier, Narragansett and Genesee, have managed to build loyal followings by leaning on authenticity and local pride. That same appeal is what new labels, like Real American, are also trying to tap into, Williams said.
“There are also a lot of occasions and consumers still up for grabs when it comes to new legal drinking age consumers or current drinkers looking for an authentic, quality brand to call their own,” Williams said. “There are still plenty of opportunities for any new brand to find success. Achieving scale that rivals a category leader like Bud Light is not a task to be taken lightly.”
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