Brahma is the official brand of sertanejo, the Brazilian country music and the most listened to, played, and accessed music genre in the country. In 2019, we sponsored over 100 on-site rodeo festivals all over the country. In 2020, due to the pandemic’s restrictions, we had to reinvent ourselves to adapt those huge events into a completely new format of entertainment: the Brahma Livestream Circuit. But, more than just keeping the same audience numbers as the previous year’s, our goal now was to increase them, bringing hope and providing great entertainment to millions of Brazilians. And, of course, since everyone’s motto in 2020 was “stay at home”, we had a social purpose to accomplish too: bringing artists closer to the audience while incentivizing everyone to consume good music at home.

The unprecedented events which took place in 2020 brought terrible news for the entertainment industry. But instead of sitting and waiting for better times, we saw an opportunity to turn the tables and keep bringing great entertainment to Brazilians all over the country. To make that happen, we needed to create a fully immersive music experience, in which our brand would fit perfectly, and combine it with the most popular music genre in the country: sertanejo. With that in mind, our idea was to broaden the experience by designing a remarkable physical structure to attract a wider audience and, for this very purpose, we invited the greatest icons of sertanejo music to play live in iconic venues, where our beer brand would stand out and speak with the artists and the audience in an intimate language.

Our beer brand has always been connected to sertanejo music through the sponsorship of big festivals and rodeos all over the country. Now, with people staying at home, the entertainment industry had to go digital, and Brahma could not lag behind. Our main strategy to keep the brand relevant in times of isolation was to maximize the livestream music experience by bringing the most renowned Brazilian sertanejo artists onto the stage, doubling the number of scheduled sponsored events, and drawing a comprehensive social media promotional plan that encouraged the audience to stay safe at home while enjoying great live concerts from the comfort of their couches. Most of all, we wanted to make the Brahma Livestream Circuit part of the Brazilian culture.

To grab our audience’s attention and generate the impact we wanted, we needed productions in different settings to avoid seeming repetitive. The venues where some of the livestreams took place were not chosen by chance: the Barretos Rodeo Arena, Sugarloaf Mountain, Mineirão Stadium, and Brahma’s brewery – iconic locations that helped create a fully immersive experience and bring the audience closer to our brand. During the 250 livestreams, Brahma was strategically placed in these remarkable moments through the launch of a new product that ultimately became the events’ main star. The experience was such a success that it drew attention worldwide, with our beer brand trending on global Twitter.

The campaign numbers were outstanding: +500MM views and 2 billion impressions on YouTube, which resulted in an ROI of R$+280MM, as well as R$+38MM from earned media. During the 700 hours of live music broadcast, over 85 million were impacted. This number did not only bring the audience closer to the artists but also helped raise tons of food and millions of reais in donations to poor communities that were harshly impacted by the pandemic. In the first three months of the circuit, our latest launch reached 90% in brand awareness, becoming the category leader; Brahma was AB InBev’s most commented brand in the world and, once again, the best-selling beer in the country. But perhaps one of the most important aspects of the Brahma Livestream Circuit was enabling people to keep enjoying their favorite music in the comfort and safety of their homes in these times of isolation.