Exposing Your Brand to New Audiences

Many brands are quickly pivoting to address specific trends and offer helpful, positive entertainment and promotions to consumers. This week, Anheuser-Busch announced it is launching the first of its kind virtual festival to bring people together for International Beer Day on August 7. The festival will include its iconic brands: Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA, Stella Artois, BON V!V spiked seltzer, and the Brewers Collective craft portfolio.  

“Core to our mission at Anheuser-Busch, we want to bring people together for meaningful experiences and amazing content over a beer or seltzer,” said Azania Andrews, Vice President of Connections at Anheuser-Busch. “It’s so important to put people first and meet them where they are – especially during this time – and so I hope that this event can be a moment for people to take a break from their week and just have some fun safely together. The lineup features everything from beer tastings to brewery tours, live music, cooking tips and more, so there really is something for everyone to enjoy.”  

In the spirit of bringing people together and creatively engaging consumers, the company is partnering with Drizly and other delivery services that will allow customers to enjoy the festival from their own living room. The company plans to take over its platform with unique banners on Drizly’s website, promotional codes, and social posts. During the festival, viewers will be able to order their favorite products from the comfort of their home. 

Secret Cinema, a storytelling company that specializes in immersive cinema experiences, partnered with ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs to launch a weekly home entertainment series named Secret sofa. The campaign ran for eight weeks and screenings happened weekly. Newsletters were sent out revealing the film of the week and how viewers could access it with a code that also allowed them to order Häagen-Dazs' flavor of the week via a collaboration with Amazon Prime Now. The company encouraged viewers to share their Secret sofa images using the hashtag #HaagIndoors and chose the best image to win a week’s supply of ice-cream.  

In July, companies Bumble and Babe Wine, a canned sparkling wine brand owned by AB InBev, teamed up for a new social media campaign to offer women the chance to have their moving costs covered if they have recently gone through a breakup during the pandemic. The company plans to choose five winners who participate in the contest by sharing an image and tagging themselves “moving on” on the company’s Instagram page @drinkbabe in hopes to increase visibility and gain more followers.  

Leveraging partners to create marketing campaigns, allows companies that have similar customers without having a competitive offering to be exposed and promoted to both audiences. In result, both brands are exposing their products to each brand’s audiences with proven purchase intent and a need for each product. Creating strategic marketing alliances and exploring new channels to market your brand online are great ways to succeed by connecting with your audience and with new customers, it also helps to elevate your brand’s content and increase the reach of your campaigns.

Brands continue to think of innovative ways to bring products closer to consumers across the country, and ways to create a personalized, interactive experiences that constantly reflect the latest digital trends. Consumers want to shop with brands that leave positive memorable impressions. Companies have a great opportunity to pivot and adapt as while customers adjust to (and drive) changes in digital commerce. Now is the time for brands to create new strategies to meet the needs of their audience in a proactive, thoughtful, and exciting way.