2024 Winner
BronzeBest in Consumer Engagement
Labatt (Budweiser)
"It’s Not the Same
Without Your Buds"
Anomaly / Dentsu
"It’s Not the Same
Without Your Buds"
Anomaly / Dentsu
How do you reinvigorate an iconic brand synonymous with male friendship in the face of declining social connections between Canadian men?
For years, Budweiser established itself as the beer that brings true friends together. But the social consumption occasion contributing to the brand’s relevance and market share was in jeopardy due to a growing “friendship recession” among men in particular. In 2023, Budweiser’s share stood at 10.14 points of core lagers, a significant drop from its 12.90 points in 2013.
Men are experiencing a silent “friendship recession.”
The brand’s first-ever National Friendship Survey showed that 7-in-10 Canadian men are spending less time with their buds. And while 75% also reported wanting to spend more time with their friends, the fear of appearing needy was keeping them from telling their buds they missed them, or wanted
to grab a beer.
“It’s Not the Same Without Your Buds.” As the only beer with friendship in its name, the brand brought awareness to the “friendship recession” by doing something no other competitor could: they removed the “Bud” from their iconic 147 year old word mark. Then, on International Friendship Day, they brought the buds back.
To bust the inertia keeping men on the sidelines of their friendships, the agency’s engagement strategy came to life in three phases – all culminating in a first-of-its-kind SMS experience that continually nudged guys toward more time spent together:
First, to demonstrate that things are not the same without the buds, they removed the “Bud” from Budweiser’s iconic 147 year old wordmark. On July 20th, the Bud mysteriously disappeared across Budweiser’s owned and paid channels, including: Sportsnet’s ‘Budweiser Studio ‘, the Blue Jays’ outfield, Budweiser Stage, highway billboards, bar signage, and even on Budweiser’s own social
handles and beer labels.
Then, on International Friendship Day, the brand took over Sportsnet’s Blue Jays broadcast, and launched a powerful film that asked men to consider what life would be like without their closest friends. The film was followed by a 90-second ad block takeover that gave men a moment to reach out to a bud, and visit ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca – a CRM experience designed with the singular goal of encouraging friends to reconnect.
Finally, once they signed up on ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca, guys received personalized texts during specific moments of the day (after-work, during the Jays game) with prompts to reach out to their friends. To help encourage the behaviour, the brand offered regionalized $25 dining vouchers, and event tickets. As for anyone who didn’t sign up on Friendship Day, Budweiser continued to target men in moments of “me time” – daily micro moments (commuting, viewing sports highlights, or scrolling social) where they could spare a minute or two to reach out to a bud, or sign up for ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca.
The campaign was the first in its category to utilize a 90-second segment and ad space buyout on a major sports broadcast to give men the opportunity to make time for what matters, and connect with their buds. Connect one on one with guys via a personalized SMS mechanic that incentivized them to connect with their buds.
Budweiser’s Friendship Campaign Reunited a nation of buds. 373,000 men reconnected with a friend as a direct result of our campaign, leading to a 0.3% volume share increase for the brand.Share climbed a full percentage point by December, 2023 and improved brand meaning to 121.6 with men 35 plus in Q3 2023, beating the 2022 score.
The campaign drove 373,000 men to take action and signed-up, shattering the55K data acquisition benchmark by 578%.
“It's Not the Same Without Your Buds” earned social conversation; 19,800 people commented on and re-shared the campaign, on social 147.5% vs the previous year’s summer campaign. It earned 74.3M media impressions and the long-form 3 minute OLV delivered a 38% VTR (3X higher than
YouTube’s benchmark).
For years, Budweiser established itself as the beer that brings true friends together. But the social consumption occasion contributing to the brand’s relevance and market share was in jeopardy due to a growing “friendship recession” among men in particular. In 2023, Budweiser’s share stood at 10.14 points of core lagers, a significant drop from its 12.90 points in 2013.
Men are experiencing a silent “friendship recession.”
The brand’s first-ever National Friendship Survey showed that 7-in-10 Canadian men are spending less time with their buds. And while 75% also reported wanting to spend more time with their friends, the fear of appearing needy was keeping them from telling their buds they missed them, or wanted
to grab a beer.
“It’s Not the Same Without Your Buds.” As the only beer with friendship in its name, the brand brought awareness to the “friendship recession” by doing something no other competitor could: they removed the “Bud” from their iconic 147 year old word mark. Then, on International Friendship Day, they brought the buds back.
To bust the inertia keeping men on the sidelines of their friendships, the agency’s engagement strategy came to life in three phases – all culminating in a first-of-its-kind SMS experience that continually nudged guys toward more time spent together:
First, to demonstrate that things are not the same without the buds, they removed the “Bud” from Budweiser’s iconic 147 year old wordmark. On July 20th, the Bud mysteriously disappeared across Budweiser’s owned and paid channels, including: Sportsnet’s ‘Budweiser Studio ‘, the Blue Jays’ outfield, Budweiser Stage, highway billboards, bar signage, and even on Budweiser’s own social
handles and beer labels.
Then, on International Friendship Day, the brand took over Sportsnet’s Blue Jays broadcast, and launched a powerful film that asked men to consider what life would be like without their closest friends. The film was followed by a 90-second ad block takeover that gave men a moment to reach out to a bud, and visit ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca – a CRM experience designed with the singular goal of encouraging friends to reconnect.
Finally, once they signed up on ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca, guys received personalized texts during specific moments of the day (after-work, during the Jays game) with prompts to reach out to their friends. To help encourage the behaviour, the brand offered regionalized $25 dining vouchers, and event tickets. As for anyone who didn’t sign up on Friendship Day, Budweiser continued to target men in moments of “me time” – daily micro moments (commuting, viewing sports highlights, or scrolling social) where they could spare a minute or two to reach out to a bud, or sign up for ThatsWhatBudsDo.ca.
The campaign was the first in its category to utilize a 90-second segment and ad space buyout on a major sports broadcast to give men the opportunity to make time for what matters, and connect with their buds. Connect one on one with guys via a personalized SMS mechanic that incentivized them to connect with their buds.
Budweiser’s Friendship Campaign Reunited a nation of buds. 373,000 men reconnected with a friend as a direct result of our campaign, leading to a 0.3% volume share increase for the brand.Share climbed a full percentage point by December, 2023 and improved brand meaning to 121.6 with men 35 plus in Q3 2023, beating the 2022 score.
The campaign drove 373,000 men to take action and signed-up, shattering the55K data acquisition benchmark by 578%.
“It's Not the Same Without Your Buds” earned social conversation; 19,800 people commented on and re-shared the campaign, on social 147.5% vs the previous year’s summer campaign. It earned 74.3M media impressions and the long-form 3 minute OLV delivered a 38% VTR (3X higher than
YouTube’s benchmark).
Credits
Neil Blewett, Group Creative Director, AnomalySasha Barkans, ACD Art, Anomaly
Cristina Pineros, ACD, Copy Anomaly
Mahmoud “Mak” Kattan, Head of Brand Strategy, Anomaly
Kira Montgomery, Head of Comms Strategy, Anomaly
Matt Stasoff, Social Strategy Director, Anomaly
Sydney Price, Integrated Producer, Anomaly
Andrew Oosterhuis - VP of Marketing, Labatt
Jake Brunt - Sr. Brand Manager, Labatt
Veronica Bart - Senior Communications Manager, Labatt
Danielle Haberman - Account Director
Sarah Loo - Account Supervisor
Dave Douglass - ECD
Matt Holton - Head of Accounts
Candace Borland - CEO
Anjelica Kapetanos - Business Director
Shawn Lambino - Director of Design
Scotty Booth - Editor
Shirley Truong - Account Coordinator
Devante Mowatt - Content Creator
Marie-Pierre Toure - Head of Production
Jacklyn Bonsignore - Producer
Danielle Zhang - Integrated Producer
Chris Pollatta - Group Account Director Dentsu
David Sheedy - Director of Mainstream
Melissa Zeta - Sr. Designer
Stella Cho - Brand Manager
James Lamont (VP Veritas)
Lara Watson - PR Exec (Veritas)
Ryan Little - Insights Lead (Labatt)
Diana Hilderman - PR Exec (Veritas)