King of Social Media

The self-proclaimed "King of Beers" has fallen from the prestigious throne it sat upon decades ago.  According to Tripp Mickle at the Wall Street Journal, Budweiser sold nearly 50 million barrels of beer in 1988, but last year they sold just 16 million barrels. 

Most people can tell you Budweiser has fallen out of favor with the younger consumer, and is struggling to keep up with hip, craft beers that are luring Millennials. In response, Budweiser is trying a different approach to marketing. They're going after the 21 to 27 year old segment through digital and social media channels, even going as far as partnering with ride sharing apps Uber and Lyft. Lets review several campaign strategies the brand has deployed over the last two years intended to appeal to this age group. 

Buds for Buds

In a move intended to engage the highly sought-after Millennial, Budweiser partnered with Facebook to create a 30 day pilot that allowed patrons to digitally gift beer to their friends on Facebook. Using Facebook targeting, Budweiser was able to reach out to Facebook users that filled out their birthday information. The pilot ran in October of 2014 and was limited to the Chicago and Denver markets.

Made in America Music Festival

The Budweiser Made in America Music Festival sponsored by Anheuser-Bush began in 2012, featured numerous stages that continuously serve up live music from an extensive array of genres including hip hop, rock, pop and R&B. After the music festivals, the beer brand posted video coverage and behind the scenes content to its Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram accounts. They interviewed local artists from a mix of markets including Detroit, Memphis, St. Lewis, and Baltimore.  This campaign reinforces the trend that major national brands are focusing on local content creation, and integrating with a broader national campaign at the local level. 

Local, Scale-able, and Always On  

When it comes to social media, local content is king. It’s about connecting with your audience in ways that traditional marketing isn't equipped for. Traditional marketing consists of TV, print, radio, and billboard and is a form of one way communication.  The consumer is talked at, and content is generic enough to connect with a wide audience but fails to make real connections. On the other hand, digital, and social media have brought about a new era of brand advocates which act as influencers to their circle of friends and family. Think about the countless number of engaged consumers that comment, share, and ‘like’ a brand through social media.  Appealing to a sense of community pride and friendship is one ways to elicit an engagement with someone in the social media space.  Budweiser developed the #HolidayBuds campaign designed to charm the pants off hipsters. 10,000 limited-edition, handmade wooden crates with 18 Budweiser and two pilsner glasses inside, all containing authentic classic labels from 1918, 1933, and 1976.  If you were lucky enough to get your hands on one of these crates you were encouraged to take to social media and share images of the crate with an explanation of which longtime distant friends you wish to share these “buds” with.  

The beer brand also developed an inexpensive Budweiser video montage strategy that could easily be scaled for multiple cities and connect with the local community though Facebook.  They added a little Facebook advertising to fuel it and sat back as it took off this past holiday season. Check below to watch the 'Heading Back Home to Detroit' video. 

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This wasn't the only time Budweiser tapped into timing and sentiment to appeal to peoples senses, the World Cup is a shining example of that. According to Dan Gadd of Taylor Strategy, Budweiser inserted themselves into the celebratory moments that are drivers on social media. Their campaign was a fit for the types of conversations people wanted to have during the World Cup. They understood the three factors to success during the World Cup and used them to build an outstanding social media strategy.

• Real-time Moments (always on)
• Celebration of National Pride (local content creation)
• Global Audience (Scale-able distribution methods)

Most Mentioned Brand

Only time will tell how these campaigns work to draw the coveted millennial to the brand, but if  topics measured in social media conversation during last years Super Bowl are any indication of Budweiser's performance, things are looking up for the King of Beers.  

Budweiser ran away with the most social media mentions during the 2014 Superbowl.