Case Study: How Budweiser's UGC campaign garnered 100mn+ impressions

Budweiser 0.0 in its #RuleTheNew, crowdsourced hacks that depict creative ways to safeguard one’s well-being while resuming routine activities during the ongoing pandemic.

Category Introduction

The Indian beer market is around 28 million hectoliters strong with a value of USD 14K million, in terms of industry size. The beer industry contributes to more than INR 50,000 crore annually in revenue with significant sales happening in the first quarter of the financial year during the summer season.

Brand Introduction

Budweiser is a premium brew from the house of AB InBev. The brand attempts to be like an enabler and energizer, standing with its patrons, ensuring they have access to the best of experiences, across the spheres of music, fashion, and sports.

The communication is driven under the brand’s maxim, ‘Be A King’ that bolsters individuals to make the most of an opportunity, in any given scenario. Amidst the pandemic-induced challenges, the brand similarly aspired to empower individuals to conquer the new normal, with innovative solutions to relive/recreate experiences, in a safer manner.

Summary

As we press play on our lives, individuals across the country are eager to step out and socialize – be it getting back to work or catching up with friends. However, the challenges posed by the current scenario demand a new sense of responsibility and utmost caution.

To facilitate and attempt to champion this change, Budweiser 0.0 tapped into the power of social media to unify creator communities and individuals across the country in its latest initiative #RuleTheNew. The brand set out to crowdsource hacks that depict creative ways to safeguard one’s well-being while resuming routine activities.

Objective

Budweiser 0.0 endeavored to inspire, empower, and equip individuals with solutions to safely adapt to the new normal. The brand strived to endow consumers and creators with an opportunity to unleash creativity and aid adjustment to the new reality wrought by the current circumstances.

The underlying purpose was to showcase nifty alternatives – crafted by kings that are acing the testing times.

Creative Idea

Budweiser 0.0 as a brand, has always worked towards nurturing communities in a meaningful manner that extends beyond its superior product offerings. Given the pandemic-induced challenges, the idea behind #RuleTheNew campaign was to create an easily accessible hack library on Instagram, in collaboration with creators and consumers, to inspire and enable people to be safe when being social in this new world.

Challenges

The current sentiment of the country necessitated an approach that was sensitive and mindful of the challenges surrounding us, while aiming to instill optimism in individuals, for a better, safer tomorrow. There was a need to assist people in a way that was relevant and meaningful while being conscious of the realities posed by the on-going pandemic where safety and conscientious behavior is paramount. At every step, it was essential to reinforce the need of the hour – vigilance, attention, and stepping out only when necessary.

Execution

The brand adopted a digital-first approach for the end-to-end execution and conceptualization of #RuleTheNew campaign to be conducted virtually, with little to no in-person meetings.

Conceived by Animal, Budweiser India heralded the #RuleTheNew challenge, kick-starting the contest on Instagram on 10th July 2020. Participants - filmmakers, writers, photographers, influencers, cinematographers, producers, consumers – were required to share 15-seconder videos, showcasing innovative hacks to deal with the challenging situation, tactfully and safely.

The hacks were spread across five categories – Hangouts , Sports , Romance , Party , and Holidays

The brand partnered with leading photography communities, new-age media platforms, and creator communities, to seed content and fuel resonance around the initiative.

Also read: Case Study: How Hyundai leveraged Twitter for the launch of Tucson

To encourage user-generated, as well as creator-generated entries, the brand associated with stalwarts of the Indian Film Fraternity, Zoya Akhtar & Jay Oza, who played a pivotal role in spreading the word and judging the credibility/viability of the hacks received.

Shortlisted entries (top 100) were featured on the 'Rule The New' Instagram handle daily.

Gratifying their commitment towards a better tomorrow, the participants were incentivized with rewards, from daily give-aways to prizes worth INR 15,00,000. The top 20 best entries stood a chance to present their work to creative stalwarts, Zoya and Jay, and interact with them.

The contest culminated on 3rd August 2020.

After the contest phase, the brand invested in user discovery – with the aim of ensuring consumers across the country are aware of and have access to this content library. Popular meme pages were activated that curated content under the theme of ‘Forget The Old, Rule The New’. The conversation picked up, and witnessed widespread participation from individuals, public accounts, and brands – some noteworthy ones include Tata Motors, Wynk Music, Bank Bazaar, Zee Tamil, Voot Select.

Though initiated on Instagram, there was also an evident spillover on Twitter, with government bodies and brands like Tata Capital, Emitra Rajasthan, Rajasthan Sampark, Department of IT&C Rajasthan, Kenstar appliances, and Mamy Poko participating in the trend.

Additionally, Budweiser 0.0 helmed a challenge on Twitter asking users to respond with COVID induced issues, for which the brand would aid them with appropriate hacks. For this initiative, the brand on-boarded comedians, such as Kaneez Surka, Sorabh Pant, Abish Mathew, Tanmay Bhatt to drive the conversation. What started off as an exchange of Tweets between comedians and the brand – soon witnessed a boost of engagement. A number of prominent Twitter-based influencers and meme pages joined in as well.

Results

The initiative garnered

• 5000+ registrations,
• 100MN+ impressions, and
• over 168,000 visits during the campaign period

The page operated at an engagement rate of 3.5%. The massive engagement garnered from the Twitter challenge led to over 25MN impressions, roaring the charts as the most trending hashtag on 2nd rank for over an hour.

The objective of the campaign - to lift morale, enable, equip and empower consumers and creators, was achieved that can be observed through the entries, comments/interaction on the handle.

CMO Quotes

Commenting on the initiative, Alexander Lambrecht, VP Marketing – South Asia, AB InBev, said, "Even as the lockdown continues to ease, individual caution is vital to collectively combat our current challenging circumstances. Budweiser has always played a role in energizing the community, bringing people together to share great times. As we adapt to our new reality, we strive to continue doing the same – offering support and uniting our communities in meaningful ways – while underscoring utmost caution and safety."

"The ‘Rule The New’ initiative ensures that our partners and patrons are aware of, and well-equipped, with hacks to effectively conquer the new normal safely. We are delighted with the overwhelming response garnered to date, and the absolute creativity of each hack only re-instills our belief that together we will emerge triumphantly", he adds