Budweiser’s has begun rolling out its Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup sponsorship campaign – ‘Rise As One’ – which ‘celebrates the moments that unite and inspire fans’ around the world.
The campaign is described by the brand as a ‘holistic creative platform, is fronted by a global launch commercial developed in partnership with agency Anomaly.
Filmed in stylish black and white and featuring the brand’s new World Cup limited edition gold aluminium bottle, the launch spot focuses on football fans around the globe ‘rising as one’.
TV and online teasers and trailers for the ‘Rise as One’ campaign leaked out online in early March,
The spearhead TV commercial previewed officially on the brand’s web platforms in mid March and then aired on network TV from 24 March.
Budweiser is also rolling out an online documentary series co-produced with Vice and the ‘Rise As One’ campaign also includes a competition that invites fans themselves to submit their own stories about their footballing heroes who gone the extra mile ‘for the love of the game’.
Consumers uploading their own content to both the campaign’s digital platforms and sharing them through their own social networks are entered into the competition to win a VIP trip to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and to have their own film produced by Budweiser and Vice highlighting their dedication to the sport.
The initiative also includes a further six part documentary airing on FOX Sports Originals focusing on how the beautiful game inspires the world to hope, believe and to ‘Rise As One’.
A series trailer ran in early March,
Follow up activation will span fresh TV and out-of-home advertising, plus online, social and a set of initiatives to engage fans in-store.
As the campaign rolls out Budweiser will also develop and distribute global broadcast and digital FIFA World Cup content through an evolving set of strategic media partnerships.
Digital activity will be hosted at riseasone.budweiser.com and the online and mobile work will include a new flagship feature on the Budweiser app (available from 21 March) called the ‘Budlocater’.
This will enable users to geo-target their location in order to find the nearest pub selling Budweiser (along with associated details about whether the establishment has TVs, live music or a garden etc).
The app will also enable consumers themselves to ‘like’ and ‘share’ pubs and bars on Facebook, while drinking establishment owners can also ‘claim’ a listed pub/bar as theirs and provide information about which World Cup games they are showing live.
The brand has also unveiling its new tournament packaging which features the World Cup itself in the form of a limited edition aluminium trophy bottle which will be distributed across more than 40 countries and serve as the hub of the brand’s World Cup packaging range (which will also include limited edition glass bottles, cans and secondary packaging).
Budweiser is giving digital a prime spot in its sponsorship as the official beer of the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup with a string of video and social efforts.
On top of TV and traditional advertising work, digital (in the form of a string of social and video initiatives)is the lead component of Budweiser’s ‘Rise’ World Cup work admits chief global marketing director Ricardo Marques.
Thus FIFA’s official beer brand began by creating a microsite for its ‘Rise as One’ campaign to serve as a hub for all video and social content.
While during the tournament itself, Budweiser used Twitter Cards to enable fans to vote for their favourite players to determine the FIFA Man of the Match award.
The brand awards the winning player in person after every game and buys Promoted Tweets to drive traffic to the content.
Promoted Posts are also being used on Facebook that channel consumers to the microsite to vote.
A further physical/digital strand of Budweiser’s activation kicked off in June with the opening of the Budweiser Hotel within the Pestana Rio Atlântica Hotel on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The space includes an Instagram booth and Facebook studio to help the Budweiser marketing teams on the ground create social content as the action unfolds in as close to real time as possible.
This approach builds on the work done on similar, digital-heavy activation at the Super Bowl in New York earlier in the year.
Comment
This may seem like an early launch, but rolling out a truly global campaign is inevitably time consuming and this genuinely international initiative continues the brand’s umbrella strategy of positioning itself as an (if not THE) international beer brand.
Budweiser is now available in more than 80 markets and Rise As One will have a genuinely global reach with international central creative supported by customised local country activations.
For example, in the UK these will include a national in-store display feature and on-pack consumer promotion, plus scan-and-win give aways – including the chance to win a trip to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.
‘While football brings out regional pride and fierce rivalries, it also brings fans across the globe together once every four years through shared passion,’ explains Budweiser’s global VP Andrew Sneyd.
‘With the Rise As One campaign, Budweiser celebrates the world’s favourite game and its role in inspiring fans to celebrate the moments that unite us as a global community.’
‘Being the official beer is a massive opportunity for us to stand out because what do you celebrate the world cup with? You celebrate with a beer and that puts us in a great position,’ outlines Budwwesier UK marketing manager Jennifer Anton.
‘Our aim is to be recognised as an international brand and tie together the celebration of the World Cup with Budweiser.’
Budweiser has been the official beer sponsor of the FIFA World Cup for 25 years and its deal includes the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
In addition to Budweiser serving as the official tournament brand, parent company AB InBev will also use the competition to leverage its international portfolio of beers by extending local sponsorship rights to its leading brands in select football markets: including Brahma (Brazil), Harbin (China), Corona (Mexico), Jupiler (Belgium and The Netherlands), Siberian Crown (Russia), Hasseröder (Germany) and Beck’s (Italy).
Links
Budweiser ‘Rise As One’ Website
Budweiser ‘Rise As One’ Teaser On YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuXsIdf53dY
Budweiser Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/BudweiserUK
Budweiser YouTube
http://youtube.budweiser.co.uk
