Bud Light’s N3XT Big Thing
Bud Light’s first zero carb beer, is entering the ring with its first-ever Super Bowl campaign, featuring a NFT collection.
For any given brand, initiating distribution beyond their original, primary market is a great opportunity to expand, however, it involves risks of losing existing values as well as conducting business in a new, unfamiliar territory.
In Bud Light’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial, the brand introduces a zero carb light beer as they announce entering the futuristic world of NFT’s. “We’re always about having our finger on the pulse of culture”, said Corey Brown, senior digital director of Bud Light. He claims the brand understands this generation does not want to feel boxed in, while at the same time “remain open to whatever the next possibility is”.
As the virtual world of Metaverse is only at the starting point, the launching of NFT’s will increase encounters that the company never dealt with before while selling cheap beer since their begining. In my opinion, some of the challenges Bud Light will face are making their brand more appealing to the younger population. According to BeverageDynamics, over 60% of Bud Light consumption comes from ages of 35 years old and above. The decision to associate NFT’s in their business plan, will raise awareness of younger crowds in the company. In the article, Corey Brown went on to mention, “We’re seeing NFTs and crypto redefining what creativity and ownership means. We wanted to engage with communities, quite literally, in this redefining moment, and simultaneously with Bud Light”. I believe this campaign has the potential to attract a younger audience, however, will Bud Light be able to remain interesting? — time will tell.
Moreover, fans who post photos of zeros on social will be entered to win $10,000. The zeros can be from the Bud Light Next spot, on the Bud Light Next can, on a street sign or even in another ad. This engaging move creates an extra buzz around the brand. As they attempt to grow their young crowd base, having a reward winning campaign, could definitely appeal to college students or other younger, Gen Z folks that could certainly put the money into good use. With that being said, while I argue the Bud Light’s campaign is well planned, they have a couple of loose ends. For starters, the ad , along with its innovative and futuristic concepts focuses completely on the young audience. I believe that the brand should have involved in one way or another, emphasis on their loyal consumers, which are Gen Y and baby boomers. The last thing Bud Light want is to rely on a segment in the market that is notorious of being unfaithful. In addition, according to Sportsmedia, “Adults 18–49 made up just under 41% of the CBS TV audience of 98.2 million”. That means, that while being a highly watched event, the majority of the viewers aren’t the crowd Bud Light tries to reach out to. More so, “Ratings in adults 18–49 have declined in seven straight years, and viewership has declined in eight”. This statistic should have been considered if the Super-bowl is indeed the best platform to promote the brand’s revolutionary ideas.
