AB InBev:
FIFA World CupTM 2018

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AB InBev has been a partner of the FIFA World Cup™ for an astounding 35 years. And what more could you want than to be the most talked about brand in one of the most watched tournaments in the world?

In 2018, AB InBev asked us to make it happen with innovative, relevant and connected programming not just in the host country, but globally.

Planning for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ took three years. In a fully customized, integrated and tech-forward program, we hosted over 2,000 guests from 26 brands across 51 countries.

That meant 84 different hospitality programs over the 30-day tournament.

The hospitality experience was more customized with a guest-first offering and package, it was more innovative with a guest app that gave our guests real-time updates and notifications, and more unified offering guests experiences across all touchpoints and hospitality spaces, including the stadium and the “Bud Boat”.

These experiences even included the transformation of a marquee hotel entertainment hub into the “Bud Hotel”, the “Bud Boat” and the “Bud Club”. The boat became “the” place to watch a match outside of the stadium, featuring a three-hour tour, covering Moscow’s most iconic landmarks. The “Bud Club” was a branded nightclub featuring top-talent, hosting a grand total of 30,000 guests over the course of the tournament.

And next to the Luzhniki Stadium, we created another bespoke hospitality venue as an extension of the “Bud Hotel”. The “Bud Lounge” hosted 1,200 guests over the tournament and featured beer, food music and FIFA TV screenings.

Experientially, we developed new ways to take advantage of AB InBev’s sole and exclusive contractual assets to drive brand chatter.

First we created a custom app to seamlessly communicate the Man of the Match, to capture dynamic content to be shared immediately across AB InBev social channels, driving significant impressions. MOTM buzz doubled as compared to previous tournaments (3.47 M total votes).

And second, we developed red noise-activated illuminating aluminum cups, given to everyone buying a beer in stadium. With every raucous cheer in the stadium, the lights in the cups would activate, creating sea of red Budweiser branding for each game, visible in-stadium and on broadcast media.

Our 12 beer gardens across different stadia gave trade operations a boost too. These included face painting, Man of the Match photos and football quizzes. 3.2 million cans were sold in the stadia and beer gardens, 20,000 more than were sold in Brazil.

For the first time, we also drove the activation of the FIFA Fan Fest, featuring three AB InBev brands across six different cities. Over 7.7M visited the Fan Fest over the course of the tournament.

All this helped achieve our target of being #1 share of voice in conversation during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ with 1 billion Budweiser content views.

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