ANHEUSER-BUSCH | TURNING BEER INTO WATER | 2018
Turning Beer Into Water / ANHEUSER-BUSCH "TURNING BEER INTO WATER"
There are days when a beer company makes water without brewing a single drop of beer. And it's been doing this for over a hundred years.
The problem
Since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Anheuser-Busch has switched its beer production lines over to making water whenever disaster strikes. Since 1988, it has donated more than 71 million cans. 2017 was a year of back-to-back disasters: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, plus the California wildfires.
The insight
What they were doing wasn't new. So what did they change? The way they told the story.
The idea
For their 2018 Super Bowl ad, they didn't use actors. Instead, they showed 24 real employees at their plant in Cartersville, Georgia, actually switching a beer line over to produce water. At the foundation of it all was a "Community First" mindset that puts disaster-hit residents first.
What happened
In 2017, they delivered a total of 3 million cans of water to 50 communities. The campaign won Gold and Bronze at Cannes Lions 2018.
Afterthought
Turning an entire beer company's production lines and distribution network into disaster relief. What made this work was choosing to show the faces of real employees, on a stage like the Super Bowl where flashy entertainment is the norm and expected. This wasn't an ad to sell beer—it was an honest demonstration that there's a kind of help only a beer company can give.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2018
