FIFA partner Budweiser resurfaced its #TheWorldIsYoursToTake and #BringHomeTheBud initiatives to leverage the 2023 Women’s World Cup with a Messi fronted global campaign launched by a spot titled ‘Greatness Is Hers To Take’.
Launched on 10 July – 10 days ahead of the 20 July kick-off in Australia and New Zealand – the official beer of the FIFA World Cup rolled out a fresh iteration of a campaign that originally debuted during the 2022 Men’s World Cup.
Created by Wieden & Kennedy, the Anheuser-Busch InBev brand’s activation launched with a launch film that sees brand ambassador and Argentina World Cup winning skipper Lionel Messi build buzz ahead of kick-off.
The 50-second spot spans TV, digital and social and sees Messi appear in a dark space – which initially looks like a theatre but turns out to be a Bud shipping container – to admiringly watch action from the 2019 women’s tournament and his own victory in 2022 before asking #WhoWillBringHomeTheBud?
“I know what it feels like to bring home the Bud after winning the cup. Who will be next?” says Messi before opening a bottle of Budweiser as ad copy reads: “Who will bring home the Bud? The world is yours to take”.
The copy refers to a strand of the campaign which sees Budweiser again reward the tournament winners by releasing a final version of the spot and sending crates of beer to help victorious teams celebrate.
The anchor ad was supported by a set of social content which ran in parallel with ongoing tournament related activation including a social media brand countdown and female star player focused work.
“This summer, we are proud to support the women playing on the pitch as they give fans epic moments to celebrate and ultimately Bring Home the Bud,” said AB InBev Global Vice President of Premium Brands Richard Oppy.
Budweiser is also the official sponsor of several individual women’s national soccer teams: including those in Colombia, England and the USA.
Comment
Without overtly stating it, the campaign launch phase suggests Budweiser will be the primary AB inBev brand promoted during the tournament: which in itself is an interesting choice in itself as it is not a common beer brand in Australia or New Zealand.
Whilst this campaign sees Budweiser continue the trend among brewers in particular and brands in general to increase marketing investment around women’s sport (illustrated by campaign’s such as Busch Light’s ‘Accelerate Her’ sponsorship of every female NASCAR driver, or Michelob Ultra’s ‘Race To Equality’ and signing up as the first major sponsor of Women’s Sports Network), we can’t help but wonder why the brand has chosen to front a women’s sporting event with a male athlete by resurfacing a campaign previously used for a male sporting event.
While AB InBev have gone with a unified, global football platform strategy led by the sport’s biggest megastar (who was also the last skipper to lift a World Cup trophy), but might the brand have been a bit more tuned in to the rapid rise of women’s sport as something in kits own right (rather than something that is an adjunct to a men’s event)?
Following on from the Bud Light’s recent marketing fiasco in the US – which continues to be an unravelling brand nightmare – we can’t help but wonder whether the Anheuser-Busch’s marketing team might have been a bit more thoughtful. One might also have thought that an agency like W+K might have had its own perspective on fronted a women’s tournament campaign with a man.
It’s not as if the brand has had an easy ride in the soccer space in recent months either. After all, just days ahead of last year’s FIFA Men’s World Cup local Qatari authorities banned the sale of full-strength beer just ahead of the tournament kick-off.
Nevertheless, according to the brand, the original 2022 Men’s World Cup #BringHomeTheBud campaign still ‘drove unprecedented success – including doubling product sales globally during the tournament period and increasing global brand awareness’.
But surely the brand was looking for a sure footed approach to the 2023 Women’s World Cup which is set to break global records for a women’s sports event?
More than 1.1bn watched the 2019 tournament and the sport’s popularity has grown significantly since then in terms of fans, viewers, participation, ticket sales and brand partners.
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