Bud Light, the official beer of the NFL, seeks to bring football fans closer to the game they love through a new season activation called ‘Kickoff Beers’ which spans creative, a refreshed range of limited-edition team packaging and a new NFT project.
For NFL fans aged 21+, the ABInBev brand connects the start of the new season with cracking open a beer in order to further position its product as being synonymous with the USA’s most popular professional sport.
Developed with internal agency DraftLine, the multi-channel, multi-strand season-opening activation seek to drive brand engagement and football fan excitement as the nation get hyped-up for kickoff.
It is spearheaded by a hero spot featuring NFl stars and Bud Light ambassador Travis Kelce and George Kittle which mixes the sound of a Bud Light opening with the classic, familiar NFL theme tune. The ad is running nationally on TV and online in both 30- and 15-second versions through the season.
Bud Light’s ‘Kickoff Beers’ dropped on 30 August and was supported by additional umbrella and team-specific social content including work by the beer brand’s NFL athlete ambassador stable who promoted their own team’s bespoke packaging designs across their personal platforms all linked by the #KickoffBeers hashtag and seeking to drive home the message that ‘football starts with Bud Light’.
Introducing the @BudLight x @NFL Ultimate Fandom Collection
Your @BudLight x @NFL digital collectible will be your entry pass into our Survivor Pick ‘Em game that unlocks weekly rewards. Sign up here to get notified when the cans drop https://t.co/QZuWwGqqWN pic.twitter.com/ER9rLAeePX
— Bud Light (@budlight) August 30, 2022
Get those #KickoffBeers ready to go https://t.co/AZ65UZeL4C pic.twitter.com/C9qDLYDa9f
— Bud Light (@budlight) August 30, 2022
It’s almost time Cowboys fans! Kickoff doesn’t begin without these @budlight #KickoffBeers, proudly brewed right here in Texas. https://t.co/Yv3b9YPntG pic.twitter.com/f3sRSpVLjF
— Dak Prescott (@dak) August 30, 2022
#KickoffBeers courtesy of @budlight. @Bengals fans, who's ready for Week 1? pic.twitter.com/W5dvduLuas
— Tee Higgins⁵ (@teehiggins5) August 30, 2022
Philly Philly! @budlight @eagles #KickoffBeers are here. Drop a if you're ready for week 1 #FlyEaglesFly #PaveTheLane https://t.co/bTTJ8W6HcL pic.twitter.com/cy9KJa6pQK
— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) August 30, 2022
A further sweepstakes strand of the activation encouraging fan to spread the campaign message and content sees Bud Light reimburse beer costs for the first 50 fans who tweet their Cash App at its account with the hashtags #KickoffBeers and #Sweepstakes ahead of kickoff each Sunday through the 2022/23 season.
Other activation elements include custom team packaging and a nonfungible token (NFT) drop.
The long-time NFL beer sponsor has refreshed its team-tailored cans in 24 participating cities for a limited time alongside limited-edition packaging displaying the league’s shield logo with team beer cans carrying chants and phrases specific to each franchise’s fanbase.
The brand is also hosting an inaugural ‘in-person toast’ at the showdown between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots on 11 September. During opening weekend, immediately ahead of the Dolphins v Patriots season opener, one lucky fan will ‘crack open the season’ with an inaugural toast of Bud Light in front of fellow fans.
While the Bud Light limited edition NFL team packaging will also transfer to the Metaverse through the ‘Bud Light x NFL Ultimate Fandom’ NFT collection which offers diehard fans an opportunity to engage with Bud Light and their favourite team in the virtual space through a set of digital collectible cans each of which will automatically unlock entry to a ‘survivor pick’em tournament’ where fans can compete to win a number of prizes (such as NFL jerseys, a year’s worth of beer and game tickets including to Super Bowl LVII). The campaign creative urges fans to sign up and learn more about the initiative at budlight.com/nft.
“As the official beer sponsor of the NFL and the #1 best-selling beer brand in America, we know there is nothing quite like the excitement of football season coming back,” said Bud Light Marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid. “We’re helping fans everywhere start the season right, bringing to life the magical sound of a crisp Bud Light being opened and kickstarting the best time of year.”
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The work notes that fans have gone 200 days without top tier professional football as it seeks to tee up the return of tailgating, watch parties and in-bar and in-stadium drinking as the NFL returns for a new season on 9 September.
This activation, which connects the sensory pleasures of opening a fresh beer and the start of football season, marks the start of a shakeup to the brand’s creative strategy as Bud Light replaced long-time, incumbent agency Wieden + Kennedy with Anomaly (supported by The Martin Agency which will handle brand extensions such as its hard seltzer product) to work with its in-house DraftLine internal marketing unit.
After three decades, Bud Light will also relinquish its alcohol advertising exclusivity around the Super Bowl: while it will continue to produce ads for the Big Game and remain the official beer and hard seltzer sponsor of the NFL, it will now have to battle more aggressive Super Bowl marketing from competitors like Molson Coors which has already announced plans to run ads during Super Bowl LVII in February.
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