What’s the recipe for a flawless content marketing plan? First, lots of relevance, then a bit of vigilance with impactful emotions gently sprinkled on the top to build some connection. Blending these aspects will give all brands an opportunity to produce a plate full of giveaways to their audience.
Budweiser, world's one of the most renowned beverage brands produced a campaign, #BrewedTheHardWay for their Indian audience by picking in three offbeat personalities and taking us digitally through their journeys.
Speaking about the digital series, Kartikeya Sharma, Marketing Director, AB InBev, India & South East Asia said, “Budweiser is a beer that is brewed on its own terms, for people who live on their own terms. Our campaign, Brewed The Hard Way, is a call out to those individuals, who embody values like ambition, authenticity and freedom. Personalities like Masaba Gupta, Robin Singh, and Sahej Bakshi are youth icons who have brilliantly demonstrated these values and philosophy, in the manner in which they have achieved success. We are happy to partner with them and hope their journeys inspire many more.”
Chapter 1: Ambition
“In the country where cricket is considered religion, I chose to put my faith in football,” Robin Singh, striker of the Indian football team through the film talks about how aspiration became the bridge between him and his goals. Budweiser, picked this athlete, revolved a film around him to narrate a tale of inspiration through ambition. As Sharma suggests, nothing can halt your dreams if you’re #BrewedTheHardWay.
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Chapter 2: Freedom
Face of a chocolate boy and talent of a connoisseur, artist Sahej Bakshi who’s fondly and professionally known as Dualist Inquiry is the one artist who has rephrased and evolved the music scenario of the country. Through their next film, Budweiser placing Dualist Inquiry in every scene embodies his ardor for sounds through his words.
Through this musical, the film mirrors his journey to us, a journey where his music resonates with freedom and where he expresses, “It’s only after embracing the extremes, that I feel the real freedom.”
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Chapter 3: Authenticity
Masaba or do we say bold, unconventional, and quirky? The fashion designer Masaba Gupta, who had two legacies to follow, actor or sportsperson, but she found herself in fashion. A storyteller through her patterns, she finds pleasure in surprising her audience by creating grand out of ordinary by her touch. Authenticity, the adjective she chooses to believe was the push for her success and decides to share her fashion-diary through Budweiser.
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Breakdown of the series
Personifying adjectives by pushing in stories of three triumphant personalities in the world full of intricacies, Budweiser released a three part series on the digital forum. Rising above, through the foundational belief of #BrewedTheHardWay, the brand brought together inspirational journeys of ambition, freedom, and authenticity.
Upasana Roy, Head of Strategy, DigitasLBi India said, “Everyone loves to tell a success story; few tell it like it really happened. Budweiser knows first-hand, that it takes a long time to perfect one’s dream, and the process is one filled with a lot hard work and passion. This was the primary lens deployed through our creative process for this campaign. In our creative journey, we chose to not focus on just the typical “before the fame” elements. Instead, we realized that each of the personalities have undergone an arduous process, one that needs to be continually repeated and perfected despite their success. This is what set them apart and made their inspiring narratives fit naturally into the philosophy of Brewed the Hard Way.”
It captured stories in similar lines of varied genres with an identical conclusive message and through these youth icons, Budweiser attempts to encourage stimulation through their passion and put it out for their digital youth audience. Erecting a campaign on the ideology of path to success, Budweiser had a content marketing strategy which did not string in directly with their product. An alcohol beverage brand which wordplays with its brand name synonymous to friendship - bud, also tagged along the hashtag, #ThisBudsForYou with this digital series.
The promo of the series itself received 2.2M views on Facebook with 1.3k shares, along with that each video received on an average above 5 lac views and the content was appreciated.
Content marketing for Budweiser
Content marketing primarily focuses on creating content worth for publishing with the aim to nurture engagement and through it find a way to create an impactful brand identity. With the rising focus of the brands towards social media, creativity in content marketing is incorporated heavily by them to engage relationships with their audiences.
Through this web-series, Budweiser sketches out a content strategy directed towards their audience, which happen to be the youth creamy layer of the society, the consumers of their beverage. Keeping their mode of communication as English, is just another inkling towards their target audience apart from choosing personalities who are yet again familiar to the same strata of the society. These individuals have a story to tell, what the youth is ready to listen making it a successful ring of interaction, thus resulting in a productive content marketing plan.
Having said that, a fine, thriving content plan is that all what a brand needs to get itself highlighted in the social-verse? As a brand of the beverage, building a campaign around a strong script yet a lack of direct relevance with their brand is the budding norm of content marketing in 2016?
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