Bud Light, an American beer, was basically a complete unknown in the UK. As such it had less than zero credibility in English Football. While we had an official relationship with the England team, the Euros are a Heineken tournament which meant we couldn’t mention the tournament or go near it. We also had a fraction of our competitors’ budgets. However this didn’t lessen our ambitions:

Objective:

Make Bud Light the most talked about beer brand in the UK during the Euros. As measured by earned media and share of voice

The Brief:

As we couldn’t outshout the competition, the only logical option was to leverage the assets we had: our packaging and being the Official Sponsors of the England team and players. With these, we had to do something that would make the world ask, “what the hell is going on here?”

Bud Light isn’t a football brand, what they are is a lighthearted beer brand that channels the optimistic spirit of Ted Lasso to help fans support the Three Lions. We needed to get England fans across the UK as well as football writers, pundits and news outlets talking. So rather than simply talking about our shared love of football and England, we decided to give football fans a unique way to cheer on the Three Lions. We changed the face of football…forever. Kinda. We redesigned our packaging so that fans could wear their heart’s on their sleeves…or more accurately wear their favourite players on their heads!

Introducing Bud Light Boxheads! Beer you can drink, box you can wear.

We had to win over England football fans which meant gaining credibility in their communities which meant reaching journalists, England legends and pundits. We wanted to create something that fit with the role of a beer brand x football which is about enjoying the match and supporting your team with your mates. In England, there’s a proud tradition of absurd costumes and behavior in “support” of England.

Comms Approach:

Have Boxheads show up in the real world in different ways.

And get England legends to don the boxes and put their football skills to the test.

We started by working with The English Football Association to put Boxheads on the heads of the cardboard cutout fans all over Wembley during England’s closed-doors matches. Resulting in a lot of confused camera men, chatter online and even a David Squires’ Guardian cartoon.

Boxheads then appeared on Soccer AM where host and England legend Jimmy Bullard had guests don the box and attempt the keepie uppie challenge. From there, it was all over social with legends, influencers and everyone else trying to see if it was possible to look skillful in a Boxhead.

Boxheads was the product packaging for 12 and 20 packs of Bud Light. The product was available nationwide in the UK in all retailers and independent stores as well as online.

Sales!

More than we anticipated, we sold out of beer!

12.4% increase in volume vs. previous year

150% increase in share of trade facings

Coverage!

The most talked about beer brand at the Euros!

746m earned impressions (everyone in the UK hearing about it more than 10x)

Coverage in The Guardian, The Independent and SportBible

1.7x SOV vs. Heineken

The Guardian made them a cartoon

It even made people question what they were seeing