Beer brands tend to have a lot of social gatherings and guys hanging out in their ads, but no brewer has made friendship more of a cornerstone of its brand in recent years than Budweiser.
But what do you do when the idea of regularly meeting up with buds is something your core consumer finds that less and less relatable?
There is a growing body of evidence – be it academic research or anecdotal stories in the news and social media – that adult men are struggling to make and maintain friendships, to the degree that it has been called a “friendship recession” that has detriments to their mental health. Budweiser enlisted Ipsos to conduct its own a survey of 1,000 Canadian men, which found that 70% see friends less often as they age, with 20% saying they don’t have any close friends. Half said they see their friends less than once per month, with 40% saying that drinking beer was a solitary activity, an 18% increase over the last ten years.
This is despite the fact that 75% of men believe that quality time with friends improves their well-being. The most commonly cited reasons for not seeing friends more were physical distance, work obligations and family priorities.
To that end, a new Budweiser campaign – launched ahead of this weekend’s International Friendship Day – features men talking about their close friends, how important they are and how key it is to connect in person, despite several being unable to remember the last time they sat down for a beer with them. This changes when said friend arrives to sit down and share a Budweiser.
Budweiser adopted “That’s What Buds Do” as its new tagline in 2021 to focus more closely on personal connections. Ads since then have focused on small ways friends step up for each other, be it opening a beer when someone’s hand is covered in chicken wing sauce, or taking over grilling duties so someone can talk to a romantic interest.
But David Sheedy, senior marketing director for Budweiser at Labatt Breweries of Canada, tells strategy it has taken notice of the statistics around male friends. Because of its recent marketing approach, as well as being the beer brand with “bud” in its name, it felt compelled to address the issue.
Sheedy says it’s new for Budweiser to release this kind of campaign, as summer is typically when the brand markets around barbecues. There is still an element of that to its marketing plan this year, but this is a bit of a conceptual “step up” from that approach.
To tease the campaign launch, the brand also temporarily removed “Bud” from its name on social channels, as well as on partnership branding that appeared during Sportsnet broadcasts. A limited run of its bottle labels also turned key visuals of “Budweiser” (or, rather, “_weiser”) into a reminder to connect with buds.
Sheedy adds that there is “an excellent collaboration and media integration” planed for this Sunday’s Toronto Blue Jays game.
To further help men stay connected with friends, Budweiser also launched a new website that provides text reminders to connect with their friends, as well as $25 Boston Pizza gift cards to the first 20,000 Canadians who sign up.
“The bar is also kind of a spiritual home for friendship,” Sheedy adds regarding the approach of focusing on bars in the ad and other campaign promotions. “It made a lot of sense to focus our energy and efforts there.”
There is also prizing for activities to do with a friend, such as tickets to Budweiser Stage concerts and Toronto Blue Jays games.
Ad spend is in line with previous efforts that are not a traditional equity campaign.
Anomaly handled the creative, with Dentsu on the media buy, Salt XC on experiential and Veritas on communications. Draftline, Labatt’s internal digital and social agency, is also supporting the campaign.
