Budweiser has teamed up with Major League Baseball (MLB) on a product personalisation project that invites a series of local artists to create designs inspired by their city to feature on the brand’s cans.
The league’s official beer selected a local artist in several cities with MLB teams to create the designs for their hometown club’s can.
Each individual design is unique: featuring local landmarks from the Gateway Arch for the St. Louis Cardinals can to vintage New England stores fronts and signs for the Boston Red Sox can.
The Cardinals can was created by illustrator Adam Koon, who used the team’s design past and 1950s nostalgia as inspiration.
‘It really helped a lot to look at historical baseball memorabilia as well as print material to make this a true St Louis piece,’ he explains.
While artist Annica Lydenberg, who designed the Boston can, was inspired by vintage New England store and restaurant signs as well as her lifelong passion for the Red Sox.
‘I grew up in Boston during a time when the Red Sox weren’t winning World Series, but my favorite nighttime activity was always going to a baseball game at Fenway,’ she outlines.
‘We’d get cheap seats in the bleachers or just wander in after the seventh-inning stretch. It didn’t matter that I watched them lose so many times. It was rooting for the underdog that made me into the kind of person that I am.’
The project also being amplified digitally and socially with supporting clips, GIFs, images and accompanying copy content pieces on the beer brand’s US platform such as Twitter.
It's officially baseball season. Grab your team can. And hold it high. #ThisBudsForYou pic.twitter.com/CaHN4GAmGK
— Budweiser (@Budweiser) March 23, 2017
The cans go on sale on 27 March, a few days ahead of the 2017 season’s Opening Day on 3 April.
The project initially includes Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs & White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Dallas, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets & Yankees, Oakland As, San Diego Padres, St Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals.
‘Baseball and the culture it created is a true celebration of the American spirit,’ outlines Budweiser Marketing VP Ricardo Marques.
‘This year, we wanted to leverage our long-standing partnership with MLB to raise a toast to the fans by giving them a piece of their hometown to enjoy right in the palm of their hand.’
MLB’s Business EVP adds: ‘Budweiser has been a great MLB partner for a long time and continually evolves its marketing connected to our sport. These custom-designed cans are another terrific example of Bud’s support and their ability to connect with our fans.’
‘Budweiser has been a great MLB partner for a long time and continually evolves its marketing connected to our sport,’ explains MLB EVP Business Noah Garden.
‘These custom-designed cans are another terrific example of Bud’s support and their ability to connect with our fans.’
Activative Comment:
The stunt proved to be popular in local markets and now the ABInBev-owned brand is hoping to replicate the success with the MLB cans.
Budweiser’s support of Major League Baseball is engrained in the brand’s DNA, with a rich heritage and history of partnership spanning more than 30 years and this initiative follows on from a similar Opening Day team logo custom can activation ahead of the 2016 season.
It also ended last year’s MLB World Series on fine activation forms with its brilliant ‘They Did It Harry’ campaign leveraging team partner Chicago Cubs’ astonishing win (see case study).
The team cans concept, also follows in the footsteps of a similar approach used in the brand’s partnership with the NFL which for the past few years has resulted in Bud Light cans for each team in the league (see case study) and its Bud Light partnership with the NBA,
Hey Cleveland, ball's in your court. #CavsBulls pic.twitter.com/Xp5i37yNzF
— Bud Light (@budlight) February 25, 2017
While the team at Activative’s favourite sports-led product initiative from the brand is its brilliant ‘Bud Red Lights’ ice hockey campaign (see case study).
Links:
Budweiser
https://www.facebook.com/Budweiser-USA
https://www.instagram.com/budweiser/
https://www.youtube.com/user/budweiser
https://uk.pinterest.com/Budweiser/
MLB
http://mlb.mlb.com
http://mlb.tv
http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/atbat
http://mlb.mlb.com/mobile/attheballpark
http://mlb.com/clubhouse
http://mlb.mlb.com/bts
http://mlb.mlb.com/tickets
http://mlb.mlb.com/shop
http://youtube.com/MLB
http://facebook.com/mlb
http://instagram.com/mlb
http://twitter.com/mlb
http://pinterest.com/mlbofficial
http://mlb.tumblr.com
http://plus.google.com/+MLB
