Why on earth would you want to develop microgravity beer designed for space travel?

Well, Buzz Aldrin brought wine onto the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. And Russian cosmosnauts bring cognac to the International Space Station to share on special occasions.

The importance of rituals and culture in order to endure the isolation in space is widely known among the astronaut community.

This insight fueled Budweiser’s commitment to a long-term program to develop microgravity beer.

And not just launch the idea, but actually launch multiple experiments into space and involve the R&D department to develop the product.

A new beer for the new world – just as the brand was once founded.

We partnered with CASIS, which runs a division of the International Space Station and our first SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket went up in December 2017 (long before Tesla).

Next launch: November 2018.

Our official journey to Mars began with a panel discussion SXSW. Here Budweiser announced its grand commitment alongside CASIS and former astronaut Clay Anderson.

We invited media and beer-lover-consumers to learn about the journey to Mars, and how Budweiser will be a part of it.

But the program didn’t stop there. Budweiser’s innovation team also worked closely with CASIS to determine a series of experiments needed to one day reach our goal of creating a microgravity beer, as there’s little oxygen on the Red Planet.

Eight months later, key Budweiser ingredients were loaded onto a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, bound for the International Space Station as the first official experiment.

The programming inspired coverage across various media verticals, from food to tech to business news, even stimulating top space industry experts to write feature stories about our mission in outlets like TIME and Smithsonian Magazines.

Bud on Mars generated massive media attention and social conversation:

• 2,336 earned media placements

• 1.6B billion media impressions

• 521 million social impressions

Key placements:

• “Mission to space in the name of better beer” – CNN

• “When humans reach Mars, Budweiser wants to make sure there will be beer” – The Washington Post

• “You can send a man to the moon, but man is going to need beer to go to Mars” – Huffington Post

• “How good will life on Mars be if you can’t enjoy a cold beer?” – TIME

Business results:

• Biggest lift in brand health in 20 years.

• Consideration up 2.1% and brand penetration up 1.7% – and that’s a lot when you sell 4.4 billion beers per year.

And the program is only getting started. This November, the next Budweiser experiment will be launched into orbit.

Budweiser holds a special place in American culture.

A place that has to be reclaimed for every new generation.

And you can’t reclaim a place in culture without being part of it.

So we tapped into 2017’s biggest cultural discussion: The mission to Mars

And instead of just injecting our brand into conversation, we acted on it and added a new dimension to the conversation.

A dimension only Budweiser, and a few other brands, have permission to address:

Our heritage and way of life.

The global news story helped lift the brand more than any marketing effort in 20 years.

Budweiser shares the belief of many space travel experts that life in space needs to be filled with the same enjoyments available here on earth (including beer)!

So we joined with CASIS – a pivotal player in the journey to outer space – and made our announcement at SXSW, a festival that celebrates innovation.

Our strategy, to take the first real steps toward microgravity beer, was designed to appeal to both current Bud fans and new millennial drinkers.

And instead of just voicing the ambition or doing testing on earth – we proved our commitment in by taking our R&D into orbit to understand how to cultivate barley and other key ingredients in microgravity.

Going beyond talk and acting on the ambition gave us a solid platform for earned media, and we amplified the effort through media relations, social and influencers.

Target media: lifestyle, food, trade, business, technology.

Since its inception in 1876, Budweiser has been rooted in hard work and powered by ambition.

Adolphus Busch, the brand’s co-founder, went to America to defeat the odds and start what is often referred to as the King of Beers. Budweiser’s history is a story of commitment, passion and never giving up.

But this brand story of ambition has to be proven and earned for every new generation.

The Brief: Explore the brand ideal of ambition.