Budweisers Thrives When Friends are Sharing a Bud

Research showed that the decline in male connection was one of the major culprits behind Budweiser’s declining share.

The social occasions that had long driven Budweiser consumption (watching live sports, socializing in person) were in decline. And while the reasons were extensive - including urban sprawl, and more demanding jobs - tech and media was also a contributing factor. Devices and media habits made it all too easy for men to opt out to watch a different game, mindlessly scroll social media, or fire off a, “sorry dude, can we reschedule?” text.

Our objective was clear: to turn the tides on our share decline, we needed to take action and reprise Budweiser’s role as a catalyst that brings buds together.

It’s Not the Same Without Your Buds

Men in Canada are facing a “friendship recession”, with 7-in-10 spending less time with their buds. As the only beer with friendship in its name, we saw a huge opportunity to champion men to make time for their friends, and do something no other competitor was doing.

First, to raise awareness of the “friendship recession” we did something only we could: remove the “Bud” from our iconic 147 year old word mark. Then, on International Friendship Day, we brought the buds back in an unmissable way.

Bust the Inertia Keeping Men on The Sidelines of Their Friendships

To change men’s passive nature around friendship, we needed more than an awareness campaign.

Our strategy was to attack the behavior’s root cause, and do it in the channels that often fuel his passiveness - around sports, in social and in moments of “me time” where he could reach out to a bud but chooses not to.

To first spark earned conversation, we set out to remove some of the biggest “Buds” we could find in those spaces - including commuter billboards, bottle labels, a Rogers Centre outfield sign, Budweiser’s own social channels, and the iconic sports desk in the Sportsnet Budweiser Studio.

Then, as we brought the buds back, the same spaces were turned into places where we invited guys to act – using full ad block blackouts on Sportsnet, influencer call-to-actions, male interest-targeted OLV, paid social nudges, and SMS texts.

Remove the Buds (July 20-29)

To demonstrate that things are not the same without the buds, we removed the “Bud” from Budweiser’s iconic 147 year old wordmark across billboards, bottles, sports broadcasts, and owned social handles.

Bring the Buds Back (July 30)

Then, on International Friendship Day, we took over Canada’s largest sports broadcaster, and launched a powerful film that asked Canadian men to consider what life would be like without their closest friends. The film was followed by a 90-second blackout-not-ad that gave men a moment to reach out to a bud, and visit ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca – a CRM experience designed with the singular goal of encouraging friends to reconnect.

Unleash a Behaviour Change (July 31 - August 20)

Once they signed up on ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca, guys received personalized texts and incentives that continued to encourage them to reconnect with their buds over meals and game time.

Budweiser’s Friendship Campaign Reunited a Nation of Buds

373,000 men reconnected with a friend, leading to a +0.3% volume share increase for the brand.

Business Impact: Share climbed a full percentage point (+1.0%) by December, 2023

Brand Impact: Improved Brand Meaning to 121.6 with men 35+ in Q3 2023, beating the 2022 score (121.1).

Consumer Impact: Drove 373,000 men to take action and signed-up, shattering the 55K data acquisition benchmark by 578%.

Culture Impact:

Earned social conversation: 19,800 people commented on and re-shared the campaign, on social +147.5% vs the previous year’s summer campaign

Earned media impressions: 74.3M earned impressions

Media Impact

View Through Rate: Long-form 3 minute OLV delivered a 38% VTR (3X higher than YouTube’s benchmark)