ABInBev
Client: ABInBev
Product: Budweiser
Title: Budweiser: Go Fourth
Media: N/A
Country: United States
Date Of Campaign: 6/27
Background: In the midst of the pandemic, 10% fewer Americans participated in Independence Day celebrations 2020 compared to the year prior. When COVID-19 vaccines were introduced in early 2021, the American people could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The CDC announced that if 70% of the population got vaccinated, we would reach herd immunity and the country could return to normalcy. President Biden announced in the Spring of 2021 that the 4th of July would be the day we would reach our 70% goal and mark our independence from COVID. With this goal as our backdrop, we leveraged the 25th anniversary of the blockbuster film, ''''Independence Day,'''' and set out to rally Americans to proudly come together, celebrate our independence and recognize the progress we’d made in the fight against COVID.
Idea: As America’s beer, we set out to remind the country just how far we’ve come in the fight against COVID-19 and inspire Americans to come together and celebrate what we love about America: freedom— our national freedom and our renewed freedom to assemble safely.Coincidentally, 2021 marked the 25th anniversary of the blockbuster film, ‘Independence Day’ – a film that has become widely quoted on social media by Americans every 4th of July. With the movie’s 25th anniversary milestone just around the corner, we saw an opportunity to tap into its cultural relevance.We brought back Bill Pullman to reprise his role as President J. Whitmore for the first time since the movie aired 25 years ago. With the help of Pullman, we kick-started the weekend with an emphatic declaration that we will not give up the fight against COVID, but for those who can do it safely, let’s come together to celebrate independence once again.
Results: From the start of this campaign, our primary objective was to inspire Americans to feel safe celebrating our independence and assemble for the first time since the pandemic, in part by getting vaccinated. After watching the film, 24% of Americans reported being more likely to get vaccinated, and celebration rates went up to 84%, just two points lower than 2019 rates.In addition, our goal was to generate the greatest number of impressions and social engagement relative to previous Budweiser campaigns. Throughout the campaign, we garnered 1.8 Billion PR impressions and 300K social mentions, making it one of Budweiser’s most talked about campaigns on social media in 2021. In one week, our video was viewed by over 3 million people, becoming the most shared social content in Budweiser’s history, and outside of Super Bowl, it had the second highest amount of social mentions ever for the brand.