Digital and Passive Advertising not Enough for Bud Light
If you watch television every day or walk by any convenience store, chances are you are being exposed to beer advertisements. However, most of the time we shrug off these messages and continue on with our day. Before you know it, 5:00 on Friday night rolls around and you decide to treat yourself to a drink. Are these flash reminder advertisements that you have been seeing during the week going to impact your decision when you step up to the bar? Probably not, unless you have heard good things about a product or have been exposed by fellow drinkers, you probably have no interest. See what Bud Light is doing to expose people to new products with up close and personal promotion techniques.
The Bud Girls
Cheesy commercials and fancy posters in gas station windows just aren't quite enough to encourage you to try a new product. What if you could try these new products for free? Wait, it gets better, they are served to you by the always precious Bud Light Girls. Its easy to shy away from a television commercial or window advertisement, but you're not just going to run away from a cute girl carrying a platter full of free alcohol.
The girls offer promotional Bud Light memorabilia such as t-shirts, sunglasses, beads, cups, mugs and more. They travel around to festivals and parties hosted by loyal Bud Light consumers. By offering free samples and promotional goods, Bud Light plans on exposing new products to potential consumers.
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| Bud Girls Promoting Bud Light. Photo Credits: Pub Club |
The Bud Light Lime-RITAS
On my 21st birthday I was attending a Iowa Hawkeye tailgate party at Rodman's Sports Bar in Epworth, Iowa. The Bud Girls arrived to the party decked out in Bud Light gear, ready to give away free samples and promotional items. The girls were promoting the Bud Light Rita series of beverages which included Raz-ber-Rita, Mang-o-Rita, and the newest release, the Apple-ahhh-Rita. It was a huge success for Bud Light, everyone at the bar wanted to try the new flavors. They effectively exposed and created interest in their product to a wide variety of consumers that beforehand had little exposure.
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| Just a few of the Bud Light Lime Ritas that were promoted. Photo Credits: Budlight.com |
My Birthday Experience
Eventually the girls found out it was my birthday and hooked me up with some free Bud Light gear. As a passionate marketing student I could not be more excited to experience this unique promotional approach first hand. I had a great time celebrating and sampling beer with family and friends on my big day! It was a very special experience and I look forward to more unique promotions in the future!
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| Picture of me with the Bud Girls on my 21st Birthday. Great Promotion. Great Beer. Great Friends. Great Day. |
I think that these advertisements do work. It helps when the marketers know their target consumers. Around the Midwest area, especially in Iowa, beer advertisements will try to capture the hardworking attitude of the people from the area in advertisements. This helps beer companies relate to the consumers. Busch Light ran the "Here's to earning it" promotion where they did this exact thing. They wanted to recognize all the hardworking Americans who go unnoticed that help keep this great country running. They did so by letting people send in pictures of people who they believed "earned it". Examples were construction workers, farmers, etc., basically blue-collar workers. Also the Bud Girls marketing is a great way to take advantage of one of the most well-known marketing schemes which is "sex appeal sells". Who doesn't want to receive an ice cold drink from a cute girl? Awesome blog post!
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