Budweiser x FIFA World Cup / Social Campaign / Russia 2018

How do you engage with football fans during the World Cup whilst reenforcing a connection to the brand as the tournament's official beer?

By creating a diverse array of social posts, stings, video bumpers and digital ads built on Budweiser's 'Light Up The FIFA World Cup' campaign that engaged with it's audience in the right way and, crucially, at the right time. From preconceived posts designed to instantly react to huge moments in important games through to preemptive reminders for commuters to stock up on Bud before the next game on their journey home, we made sure that Budweiser was at the forefront of peoples minds throughout the FIFA World Cup.

Reactive Videos
In order to be able to instantly react to key moments in crucial games on social media, whilst still getting around the two week FIFA approval process, we had to focus on common football tropes, predict their likelihood and prepare reactions to them in advance. These included euphoria around any sort of England success, the drama of penalty shootouts, the ecstasy of last minute winners, the wonder of spectacular goals and the shock of minnow victories. In order to add variety to the repurposed TVC and key visual adaptations, we created a visual based on 'light particles'. The concept for this was based on the idea that the fans are what make the World Cup so special. We all make the moment. Each light particle is intended to represent the lights on the Bud World Cup glasses coming together to form an image of these special moments.

ITV Twitter Pre-Rolls
We also created 5 second pre-rolls based on the 'light particle' visuals for ITV's Twitter account. These were created to target fans during crucial stages of the competition. These being the opening games, knockout stages, the quarter finals, the semi finals and the final.

Facebook Posts – Launch
In addition to the 'light particle' visual we created for the World Cup, we also repurposed footage from Anomaly's global TVC for different messages. This is the launch post designed to inspire unity from football fans from all over the world. Wherever they're from. Wherever they live.

Facebook Posts – Bud Bot
We also repurposed the TVC to help promote our Bud Bot: A Facebook Messenger Bot that helps fans find pubs to watch the match in, get 2 hour delivery of Bud with Amazon, vote for their Man of the Match, take quizzes and win tickets to watch games on the Bud Boat.

Snapchat Ad
We further targeted fans through Snapchat ads, reminding them on their way home not to forget to stock up on Budweiser by enticing them in the summer heat with images of cold, refreshing Bud!

Budweiser x FIFA World Cup / Activation / Russia 2018

How do Budweiser engage their UK staff during the build-up to the World Cup in a way that unites their love of the game with the proudly-American brand?

With Bud Pong Penos! This isn’t beer pong… This is Bud Pong Penos! A unique mixture of the dreaded penalty shootout and beer pong.
We set up three huge Bud Light Up Cups, proportional in size to a football-sized ping-pong ball, and got visitors to the event to try and chip or bounce a football into one of the cups. If they did, the cup would light up and a crowd would cheer over the speakers. Success was rewarded with prizes including free beer and the chance to win tickets to Russia for one of the games.

This provided an addictive and fun way for Budweiser to engage with football fans eagerly anticipating the World Cup as well as putting an American twist on the game itself and reinforcing their status to guests as the official beer of the tournament.

Role: Art Director and Copywriter

Agency: Elvis Communications

Creative Director: Neale Horrigan

Additional Creatives: Rob Griffiths (Art Director), James Hudson (Copywriter) and Tamsin Windsor (Copywriter)

Motion Designer: Bene Tanser

Photographer: Daniel Malheiro