Bring Home the Bud
Budweiser2022
Bring Home the Bud is a 2022 real-time stunt and giveaway for Budweiser, created by Wieden+Kennedy New York, with W+K São Paulo and Africa Creative DDB.
The line
Winning Country gets the Buds. Who will get them?
Why it works
Two days before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, organisers banned beer sales at the stadiums, leaving official sponsor Budweiser with a warehouse of beer it could not sell. The brand tweeted, then deleted, “Well, this is awkward.” A day later it announced that the stock would go to whichever country won the tournament. Wieden+Kennedy New York, working with W+K São Paulo and Africa Creative DDB, turned that promise into a running game: as teams won, red #BringHomeTheBud crates were dropped overnight in their cities, backed by field boards, outdoor and social posts. When Argentina won, the crates were opened in Buenos Aires and Budweiser threw parties there and in Rosario and Córdoba. It is studied as a model of turning a sponsorship setback into a story fans wanted to join, at the speed of the news cycle. The agencies' One Show entry claims 255 billion impressions and one million beers handed out in Argentina. At Cannes in 2023 it won one of only three Titanium Lions.
Techniques
- Real-time and newsjacking Answers a last-minute stadium beer ban within a day, promising the stranded stock to whichever country wins the tournament.
- Storytelling Turns the promise into a running saga, dropping crates in winning teams' cities overnight until the winners' crates are opened at parties in Buenos Aires.
Sources · 4
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