Dive Brief:

• Anheuser-Busch InBev brand Busch Light announced an environmentally focused marketing campaign timed to Earth Month, according to details shared with Marketing Dive. 
• Dubbed “A Case Against Space,” the effort utilizes a partnership with former astronaut Doug Hurley to share why consumers should value protecting Earth over interests in space travel, noting that beer isn’t drinkable in zero-gravity conditions. The effort is tied to a social media challenge to win a year supply of beer.
• Additionally, the brand unveiled space-themed merchandise. The campaign includes a charitable component, with the brewer pledging to donate all profits from its merchandise sales and a portion of its beer sales during the month of April to nonprofit partner One Tree Planted.

Dive Insight:

Busch Light is furthering its environmental ties with its latest sustainability focused effort timed to Earth Month. The campaign aims to offer a playful emphasis on caring for the planet, layering in a social media challenge and charitable component that could strike a chord with the growing number of consumers who gravitate toward cause-driven brands. 

Produced by the Martin Agency, the campaign's focus stems from the fact that beer isn’t drinkable in space due to the lack of gravity, which doesn’t allow for carbonation to rise, leaving beer too frothy to enjoy. Capitalizing on a renewed interest by consumers in space, Busch partnered with astronaut Hurley to send a PSA to consumers that protecting the Earth is critical in the quest to continue enjoying beer. In a cheeky 60-second campaign spot, Hurley also shares that, while traveling to space, one thing he truly missed was beer.

To widen the reach of the effort, Busch Light also launched a social media contest, challenging consumers to make a case on why it’s better to drink beer on Earth than travel to space and tag the brand and the hashtags #CaseAgainstSpace and #Contest for the chance to win a year’s supply of beer and a space helmet. Additionally, for every case of beer sold during April, Busch Light will donate a portion of its profits to longtime partner One Tree Planted along with profits from its themed merchandise.

The AB InBev brand has often flexed a charitable component in its marketing, donating over $1 million to outdoor-related causes to date, per release details. Similar efforts include its move last August to distribute free solar cookers at fire departments across Colorado in effort to curb wildfires. Such plays also help to enforce its wilderness ethos, which it recently flexed in its Super Bowl commercial, which featured musician Sarah McLachlan and brand mascot Busch Guy, who playfully shared outdoor survival tips.

Busch Light isn’t the only brewer focused on the environment. For example, Molson Coors brand Coors Light often pulls sustainability into its marketing, with recent efforts including its “Plastic-Free Future Mart” pop-up experience in Brooklyn last March and its “Chillboards” billboards in Miami, meant to direct heat away from buildings and reduce utility costs.