Bud Light has extended its ‘Dilly Dilly’ big idea to its NFL activation leveraging the new season with an integrated activation programme that spans both commercials and commemorative packaging.
The AB InBev beer brand, the official beer of the NFL, began its latest phase of NFL activation with the pre-season, late August launch of the comic ‘A Rookie’s Tale’ commercial.
This sees the brand’s immortal knight character join the Baltimore Ravens training camp.
.@Ravens it’s been fun. But a knight needs a purpose. And I’ve finally found mine. pic.twitter.com/FnmDkJI7qK
— Bud Knight (@TheBudKnight) August 8, 2018
For the early season games, the Bud Knight also featured at NFL stadiums across the country – often in tandem with the home team’s mascot.
Look who showed up to the @Broncos game. pic.twitter.com/wiCQTsUuf9
— Bud Light (@budlight) September 9, 2018
Today at @Jaguars Stadium pool, there will be no running, no diving, and no dragons. pic.twitter.com/FJEl5zEdC9
— Bud Light (@budlight) September 16, 2018
This was followed up in the first week of September, as the new season kicked off, with two new ‘Dilly Dilly’ spots – continuing the ‘For The Many, Not The Few’ concept – debuting during the telecast of the season openers.
The pair of non-football themed commercials leveraging the beer’s NFL sponsorship were launched around the first anniversary of its ‘Dilly Dilly’ ad series from Wieden + Kennedy New York
One spot, previewed during the college football kickoff weekend, sees the patron of a medieval pub bring the king’s punishment on himself by irritatingly requesting ‘autumnal mead’ instead of the Bud Lights favoured by the monarch and the rest of the revellers.
The second ad, ‘A Royal Affair’, sees the wily king reveal his sneaky, ulterior motive for showing extreme patience with a boastful royal couple from a neighbouring kingdom.
The 2018/19 season also saw Bud Light bring back its popular NFL team-specific cans.
Each team can has been updated to include the 28 franchises ‘slogans’ and ‘logos’ and were available in stories ahead of the season start on 13 August.
Just a reminder that @MiamiDolphins rookies report in 10 days.
And @BudLight should roll out their 2018 #TeamCans soon.pic.twitter.com/4XnZSnr8Mo
— Thomas (@nashmax73) July 8, 2018
The team can activation programme has, according to the brand, been a “huge volume and incremental sales booster” and has “generated Bud Light’s best return on investment performance” according to AB InBev’s head of US sports marketing Nick Kelly.
“The way we looked at team cans was to take a five-year average of total Bud Light beer sales from August through October, then, basically, look at a market, or a store, with team cans and a market without team cans,” said Kelly
“The exact performance varies from market to market. If you’re winning games, you’re selling more beer,” he adds.
“But even if a team has an off-year, he continued, that doesn’t mean that the fans take the season off. “The high attendance levels mean that the value is always going to be higher. But more wins mean more receptivity to in-store displays. And when fans see the promotions, they want to be a part of it. The passion for them to buy those cans is going to be higher.”
Plus, in mid August, Bud Light aimed to immortalize the Eagles victory with a commemorative ‘Philly Philly’ pack in homage to the game’s most memorable play.
Apparently inspired by the name of the Super Bowl’s game-changing play call, ‘The Philly Special’ and linked to the brand’s ‘Dilly Dilly’ campaign, Bud Light produced 20,418 packs – a number that plays on the date of the Eagles’ Super Bowl win on 02/04/2018.
Each limited edition Super Bowl LII pack is individually numbered and includes a 25 oz. Bud Light aluminum bottle and two specially-designed Bud Light glasses – each etched with the legendary ‘Philly Special’ play.
.@Eagles fans, we enlisted the help of a very special delivery…person…to drop off our new Philly Philly Commemorative Pack in our new Philly Philly Commemorative truck. Check it out, and grab a pack for yourself starting 8/16, while supplies last. pic.twitter.com/pXLNSH2KhT
— Bud Light (@budlight) August 13, 2018
We wanted to just low-key drop these Philly Philly Commemorative Packs off to the good people of Philadelphia. But you know @TheBudKnight… pic.twitter.com/Sac6cpInAE
— Bud Light (@budlight) August 16, 2018
A select number of these commemorative packs also gave fans a chance to win tickets to the Eagles’ first regular season game on 6 September.
Plus, Bud Light also sponsored a life-size statue outside the team’s stadium of the coach calling in the classic play to the quarterback.
.@Eagles fans, we've got one last surprise for you. It's a big one, and it's coming to @LFFStadium on September 5th. pic.twitter.com/QTT805sbCg
— Bud Light (@budlight) August 30, 2018
.@Eagles "Yeah, let's do it." pic.twitter.com/Leb9cgPRkS
— Bud Light (@budlight) September 5, 2018
“It was a dream season for Philadelphia Eagles fans, and we’re excited to continue celebrating their championship as we prepare to kick-off a new season,” said Andy Goeler, Vice-President of Marketing, Bud Light.
“Eagles fans adopted our famous ‘Dilly Dilly’ phrase, transforming it into their own rallying cry, ‘‘Philly Philly,’ and we’re so excited to give them another reason to relive the epic win with the commemorative pack.”
“Bud Light’s commemorative ‘Philly Philly’ pack is the perfect way for Eagles fans to relive and celebrate the first Super Bowl victory in franchise history,” said Brian Napoli, the team’s vice president of corporate partnerships.
“Bud Light played an integral role in our team’s championship journey last season. We appreciate their unwavering support and look forward to collaborating with them in the future on more unique ways to engage our passionate fan base.”
Comment:
It’s not all that surprising to see Bud Light Light extending its Dilly Dilly theme to its NFL work and to feature its Bud Knight brand character in its football creative.
After all, the ad idea has been a successfully one in the USA through the last year – plus, the beer brand is forbidden from featuring active players in its campaigns.
While we look set to see more MLB and NBA players appearing in beer ads in the near future after AB InBev penned new agreements with both the MLBPA and the NBPA enabling them to leverage the images of active players in marketing campaigns, the NFL’s current rules do not allow active players in beer ads.
Even executions form the league’s official sponsor.
So while AB InBev plans to launch as many as 16 ads with 16 different NBA players in 16 cities for the next NBA season, as well as a scheduled full rollout of executions featuring players during the 2019 baseball season, we will still see campaigns featuring brand characters and fans (like the current initiative).
AB InBev, which extended its league sponsorship in 2015 to ensure Bud Light remains the official beer of the NFL through to 2022 (for a whopping $1.4bn), has been trying to persuade the NFL to alter its stance of forbidding active players from appearing in beer ads.
But thus far the NFL has not changed its stance.
Although, the league did give the brand a little more room to manoeuvre in 2015 when it allowed ‘game footage of players’ to be used in commercials.
You never quite know how this landscape might shift in the future.
After all, last season Crown Royal signed up as the league’s first ever spirits partner after the NFL finally axed its long running ban on spirits sponsorship (see case study).
This is a league and not a government decision.
After all, according to the US government, as long as adverts featuring active athletes are ‘in good taste’ and ‘don’t contain unacceptable product labels’ or ‘suggest that the consumption of alcoholic beverages will improve athletic performance’, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (which judges ads on a case-by-case basis) will not object.
This National NFL campaign ran in parallel with the brilliant, local market, team-specific Bud Light Cleveland Browns Beer Fridge stunt (see case study)
Links:
Bud Light:
https://www.youtube.com/user/officialbudlight
https://www.instagram.com/budlight/
https://www.facebook.com/BudLight
NFL
http://www.nflshop.com/source/bm-nflc…
http://www.nfl.com/fantasyfootball
https://www.nfl.com/gamepass?campaign…
https://www.youtube.com/user/NFL
http://www.youtube.com/nflnetwork
http://www.youtube.com/nflfilms
