Bud Light Seltzer has a simple but systemic problem. We inherited Bud Light baggage. Both in taste perceptions and brand perceptions, people think Bud Light Seltzer is cheap, artificial and low-quality. That negative perception holds consumers back from even trying our product. To prompt re-evaluation, we needed to set the record straight. Bud Light Seltzer isn’t made from Bud Light. It’s made from bubbles, fruit and colorful flavors. It’s 100% hard seltzer, 0% beer.

Bud Light Seltzer is not Bud Light. So we told a story no beer brand could tell, and we told it in a way that felt more premium than any Bud Light ad of old. In our hero film, Bud Light Seltzer bubbles spill out of a delivery truck and transform a sepia-toned beer world into a captivating, colorful and flavor-filled seltzer world. Our bubbles are a metaphor for the two main qualities of seltzer that set it apart from Bud Light: it’s lighter and more refreshing, and it comes in a variety of bold flavors. By highlighting these key differences and opening up beer occasions to the idea of Bud Light Seltzer, we set ourselves apart from our namesake once and for all.

It was important that our spot landed clearly the idea that we’re a hard seltzer option drinkers would be proud to pull from the cooler. So we built a bubble world from scratch that was inspired by our new, refined design system to ensure visual cohesion and differentiation across a variety of executions. The film launched in March and will run through peak seltzer-drinking season, which is spring through summer.

We wanted this film to drip with soul, beauty and emotion, so we found a track that further elevates the brand: “Colors” by the Black Pumas. We loved how the lyrics were delivered in a way that felt like they were made for the colorful bubbles floating through the environments: “With all my favorite colors / See ’em like no other / All my favorite colors.”

We knew shooting a live action longform while heroing VFX and animation would need partners that could help us stay nimble while producing the highest-quality film with our budget constraints. We awarded music video director Andew Donoho, with his extensive background in VFX, to work with the three-person animation house PrePost 3D. Our VFX partners made sure our seltzer bubbles were realistic and believable. We went as far as recording the barometric pressure each day of the shoot to ensure the bubbles were swarming correctly, as if they were really in the environment.

We shot the film at the end of January and launched in March. Our production calendar was aggressive, but to see the final film and the initial results made it all worth it.