SONY MUSIC NASHVILLE + BUDWEISER“BIG COUNTRY CAMPAIGN”Liquor and Music Cross-Promotional Campaign

CLIENT:The Global Group

Jason Yoong

Company Overview

Multinational Conglomerate HQ in Los Angeles, CA Over 200 offices

Goal

Combine Budweiser with music labels Arista Nashville and BNA Records Label

Reach niche market of country music fans (brand extension)

Launch “one of the best” campaigns ever

Past

Understand risky nature of combination.

Past Budweiser campaigns: Humorous ads such as “Real Men

of Genius,” the “Bud-weis-er” frogs, and the “Whassup?” commercials.

Traditional ads such as the Clydesdale horses

Country Music Singers: Generally reserved/conservative

advertisements that emphasize traditional “Country or American” ideals.

Thoughts of Campaign Strategy Like the use of social media networks, the User

Generated-Content contest on Youtube, and use of augmented reality.

Like the buildup to the 2010 Country Music Awards and the compilation CD of various artists.

Concerned about the audience reaction and religious group criticisms, but I like how the ad campaign fuses Budweiser into the country fan ideals (not overbearing), and the use of popular (clean/non controversial) singers to endorse product.

Overall, very pleased and willing to make this risky campaign come to life with ad agency!

DAVID OSHMANAccount Director

AGENCY:The Inebrius Group

Product Category

We are promoting two products in conjunction with one another: One being a new brand of beer known as

the Budweiser Big Country Brew The second being a compilation country

music album known as the Big Country Album

Uniqueness of Big Country Campaign

Between the two products, we are appealing to both fans of country music

and Budweiser beer brands and the ideals and values that are shared

between the two

Parent Companies

This cross-promotional campaign will be sponsored jointly by Anheuser-Bush InBev NV/SA (the owners of Budweiser) and Sony Music Entertainment

Anheuser-Busch InBev

The largest global brewer with a nearly 25% global market share

Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) itself has a market share in the U.S. of 50.9% of all beers sold

Anheuser-Busch has net quarterly sales of around $4 billion

Budweiser is well known for both humorous (“Whassup” campaign) and symbolic (Clydesdale campaigns) advertising

In recent years, Budweiser has been increasing its brand with new products such as Budweiser American Ale and Bud Light Golden Wheat

Sony Music Entertainment

The 2nd largest global recorded music company and controlled by Sony Corporation of America

One of SME’s main operating divisions is Sony Music Nashville which houses the country music labels Arista Nashville and BNA Records whose artists will be used for the campaign

Arista Nashville is made up of artists including Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood

BNA Records is made up of artists including Kenny Chesney and Kellie Pickler

Competition

The Budweiser Big Country Brew will face competition from MillerCoors LLC (owners of the Miller and Coors Brewing Companies and all of their subsidiaries such as Blue Moon) and from local microbreweries

The Sony Music Nashville sponsored Big Country Album will face competition from the other three major labels – Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI – and their country music divisions

Balancing the Client’s Wishes with Creative’s Ideas

The client was looking for a campaign that would cross-promote their new Budweiser beer brand along with a Sony Music Nashville country album and focus on the values represented by Budweiser and Sony’s country music artists

Creative came up with the idea of labeling both under the Big Country brand (creating the Budweiser Big Country Brew and Sony’s Big Country Album) and structuring the campaign around “country ideals” and culminating in a co-sponsorship of the 2010 Country Music Awards

Past Campaigns

The Big Country campaign will hearken back to the recent Budweiser American Ale and Bud Light Golden Wheat campaigns The Budweiser American Ale campaign focused on equating

American values and the use of local American high-quality ingredients in the product which we plan to emulate

The Bud Light Golden Wheat campaign, starting this past October with a budget of $30 million (similar to what we plan to use), bought out all of the advertisements and become the single sponsor for an episode of Saturday Night Live which we will follow by acting as the single sponsor of the 2010 Country Music Awards

Anheuser-Busch InBev is currently running a contest in China for viewers to create their campaign for the coming Chinese New Year The Big Country campaign involves a similar user-generated

contest with the winner being feature in both commercials and on the Big Country Album

Advertising Regulations

Alcohol advertisements can only be placed in media where 70% of the audience is over the legal drinking age

The creative messages cannot be designed to appeal to people under the age of 21

Cannot promote brands based on alcohol content or its effects

Cannot encourage irresponsible drinking

Becca Fischer

RESEARCH

Why the beer market?

Patriotism

1,000 surveyed from 5 regions: Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Northeast, Southeast

Most patriotic people were from the East Coast and the Midwest

American flag was highest ranked symbol of patriotism- followed by cowboys, Old West, national monuments and country music

Country Music

Sony Music Nashville has several big name country artists: Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn and Brad Paisley

These artists have all produced #1 singles and platinum records

CMA Awards

2009 CMA Awards had a record 16.8 million viewers

Highest number of adult viewers 18 – 34 in the past five years

Dominated every ratings demographic

American Living

• JC Penney asked Rascal Flatts to write a song to promote their clothing line American Living.

• The single was released on a special version of Rascal Flatts’ new album Unstoppable.

• Rascal Flatts wore American Living apparel in performances and sold special merchandise from the line at their concerts.

• New album debuted at #1 on the Nielsen Soundscan Top 200 and Country charts.

Cassandra Gamboa

CREATIVE

Brainstorming Mental Map

Concept

“Big Country” American Cowboy Brew Pride

Tone: Patriotic American flag Red, white and blue Cowboys, images of the Old West

Approach

Celebrity Endorsements by Sony Music Nashville country music stars- emphasis building up to CMAs Carrie Underwood Alan Jackson Brooks & Dunn Brad Paisley Kenny Chesney

Not one specific “country” beer Clearly defined target market Consumer should take pride in their drink First association = American

Scholarly Support

Bruce Hardy: Mass media says what is “American”

Greg Dickinson: “citizen consumer” not just buying any product, but an American product

James Twitchell: selling the story of the patriotic, hard-working American

Potential Taglines, etc.

The Great American Lager for the Great American.

Big Country Brew for the red, white and blue.

As American as your cowboy boots. Take pride in your brew. Take pride in your

country Big on flavor. Big on country. Only in America.

Ad Example

Label Example

CD Example

Blair Bartlett

MEDIA

Print

• Music• Blender• Rolling Stones• Billboard

• Country Magazine

• Outdoor• Outdoor Life• Hunting Magazine

• Field and Stream

Broadcast

• MTV

• VH1

• CMT

• TLC

• Spike

Outdoor Media

Augmented Reality

Launch Party-CMAs and other Country Music Festivals

Example: Facebook Fan Page

Example: YouTube Contest

Eric Dressler

CULTURE JAMMING

Who We Are, What They’re DoingChristian

Representatives of

Associated

Zealous

Youth Budweiser’s promotion of underage drinking Carrie Underwood + Brad Paisley = YOUNGER

demographic

The Plan

Step 1:

•Break into Budweiser plant

Step 2:

•Replace beer with urine

Step 3:

•Replace labels with “Rig Country Brew: For Underage Sale”

RESULT:Media

attention/awareness

CLIENT REACTION