INTEGRATED PROGRAM FEATURING CUSTOM SOCIAL NETWORK, EXPERIENTIAL TOUR, NATIONAL AD CAMPAIGN AND MORE.
THE SITUATION
For two decades, the story had been the same – when it came to new drinkers, Budweiser brand awareness was high, but consideration was low. We needed to make new consumers believe that Budweiser was brewed for them and their life.
THE SOLUTION
The brief asked for an idea that would appeal to Millennials. The answer was “Band of Buds”, a social media contest that would propel the most interesting groups of friends into a real-life contest that challenged the bonds and definitions of friendship.
The program started online, where people could form “Crews” of friends at BandOfBuds.com and earn points based on digital and real world challenges. Weekly photo challenges predicted the popularity of Instagram by a few years by having teams go document their friendship and daring in return for points.
The Crews with the most points earned invitations to real-life Band of Bud events in their town, where we tested their friendship and rewarded local popularity. One Crew from each live event would make it to the finals in Las Vegas, where they were put through a series weekend-long “Minute To Win It”/Scavenger Hunt-type challenges.
The ultimate winning Crew was rewarded with what we all really want – fame (a spread in Rolling Stone) and fortune ($100,000).
THE RESULTS
- 4,000 crews signed up in our 25 participating markets.
- 14,000 enthusiastic participants generated 130,000 pieces of user generated content.
- Half a million unique site visits.
- 230 million impressions.
- 10,000 Budweiser’s sampled to target demo (many of whom were NOT drinking Budweiser before).
WHAT I LEARNED
- This program was a massive learning and growing experience.
- I oversaw the creative direction of the overall program, including social media structure, event run of show, broadcast, print, POS elements and digital marketing.
- To facilitate the online portion of the contest, we decided to build a social network from the ground up. This was a massive learning experience in regards to User Experience and Social Media Monitoring.
- I also scripted and creative directed the traveling live experiences, including the Newlywed Game-like “Bud Wise Game” played on stage at the live events. It was pretty cool to see it go from idea to execution.
- I also learned about making the most of an opportunity. The still photo shoot meant to produce print, OOH and POS elements was turned in to an impromptu commercial shoot. Rather than ask for permission, we just sort of shot the models in between set changes and cut a spot together. The client liked it enough that it began to air nationally.