Agency (city): DDB UK, London Creative Director(s): Dave Henderson, Richard Denney, Simon Richings Copywriter(s): Robert Bovington, Mike Crowe Art Director(s): Stephen Webley, Rob Messeter Short explanationInsights, Strategy and the Idea
Our target was 18-34 year old 'summer-switchers': come summer, they were more open to
trying new drinks. If we could spur a visible mass to switch into Bud during the summer it
would bring new drinkers to the brand, influence our own drinkers to stay, and build new
volume for the brand as a whole.
Relevancy to client and audience:
1. It tapped into a cultural insight in our category: During Irish summers, poor weather
becomes a key talking point as summer-time plans are held back. When 'proper' summer
weather arrives, elation ensues. We wanted to tap into the anticipation involved in looking at
the weather to look out for true summer days.
2. It brought the brand into new channels and technologies and in doing so brought it closer to
the young, tech-savvy consumers.
3. It linked an incentive to the very occasion (hot days) that the brand's key claim
(refreshment) was most compelling.
4. It put consumers and bar staff at the heart of the campaign, incentivising both to change
behaviour.
Creative Execution
The Index, at its core, is an innovative mobile vouchering app. But the power of the campaign
is arguably in its 'talkability', rooted as it is in a cultural insight based on attitudes toward the
weather. Whenever the weather is great, we wanted people to think about the brand the
promise of free beer on a hot day is an irresistible one to our consumers, in particular given
the Irish economic climate.
We developed a through the line campaign that used TV, Outdoor, Press, PR, Radio, Digital
advertising, social media and ECRM to drive awareness of the promotion, explain the app
itself, drive downloads and introduce added value utilities eg. a pub locator.
We used a 'traditional' property to glue the campaign together: a spokesperson in the form our
irreverent Bud weatherman, Scott Campbell. Scott enabled the brand to talk to consumer in a
light hearted way, seamlessly integrated with the Index itself, and he became a conduit for
consumers to engage with the brand.
Results and Effectiveness
Despite the fact that the campaign has only just gone live (27th April), the 30K target for
downloads we had for the entirety of DescriptionOn a hot day, nothing’s better than an ice-cold beer. But wouldn’t it be amazing if as the temperature went up the price of beer came down? We thought so too…
Introducing, the Budweiser Ice Cold Index: the hotter the day, the less you pay, all summer long.
The free app showed your local temperature and how much you’d save that day. It let you claim your pint for a reduced price, or, if it was really hot, for free.
To promote the Index, we created a Budweiser weatherman, ‘Scott Campbell’. Scott promoted the Index across all media channels. |
