Brief:
- Budweiser this week started a campaign on Twitter to build support for its push to become the first official state beer of Utah. The brand is asking Twitter users to tag tweets with the #Bud4Utah hashtag, per a company announcement.
- If the Anheuser-Busch InBev brand can reach 84,499 tags or retweets — a number equal to the square feet of Utah — by Sept. 13, the state will get a custom Budweiser can next year. The can will show a panorama of Utah with the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, along with images of snowboarding, mountain biking, fishing and the state's capitol building.
- In a video posted on Budweiser's YouTube channel, a character named "Jed" shows how the can will fit with other "official state things" like cherries, the official fruit, coal, the official rock, and the sego lily, Utah's state flower. American freestyle skier Joss Christensen and retired Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando appear in the video.
Insight:
Budweiser's stunt campaign to become the official state beer of Utah aims for viral publicity as Twitter users share posts with the #Bud4Utah hashtag with their friends, family and followers.
The effort comes almost a year after the state allowed beers with alcohol content of 5% or more to be sold in grocery and convenience stores, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Budweiser last year held a mock funeral for its last shipment of 3.2% beer that included a procession through the streets of Salt Lake City, and claims that it was the first brand to sell higher-alcohol beer in Utah.
The latest social media push continues the offbeat theme, but is unlikely to nudge Utah's lawmakers to officially designate its brand as an official state beer. Instead, Budweiser is gaining attention as news outlets cover the campaign and people share posts on Twitter. It's not clear if the brand reached its official goal of 84,499 tags or retweets, which should be an easy hurdle given that its @budweiserusa handle has more than 200,000 followers on Twitter.
Parent company AB InBev has been active with recent digital campaigns to reach younger consumers who are less likely to consume traditional media like linear TV. The company this month hosted its first virtual beer festival to celebrate International Beer Day with streamed video programming on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Natural Light last month began offering college students faced with campus closures a chance to win a mobile dorm room. The brand asked students to submit photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter explaining why they needed the private refuge.
AB InBev is looking to recover from a decline in sales as bars, restaurants and pubs that were closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Company revenue fell 18% to $10.3 billion in Q2 from a year earlier as its total volume of beverages slipped 17%. However, the company saw signs of a rebound as volume grew 0.7% in June from a year earlier, reversing the 32% drop in April and 21% decline in May.
