Budweiser has been an international sponsor of soccer for decades, including the sport’s largest competition—the FIFA World Cup—which it has supported for 36 years.
English soccer in particular has been rich marketing ground for parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev over the last 20 years. Its longstanding partnership with the Football Association led to Budweiser becoming the official beer of the FA Cup Tournament since 2015. Four years later, it extended the relationship for a further three years and becoming a sponsor of the English women’s national team.
Also in 2019, the brand agreed to a multi-year partnership with two of the world’s biggest soccer leagues—LaLiga in Spain and the Premier League in England—as their official beer sponsor to further its fan engagement opportunities. This was part of a plan to activate the brand across five continents and reach more than 20 countries, including China, South Africa, Chile, Nigeria and India.
A global sporting phenomenon, the Premier League is currently available across 188 countries and claims its matches are available in 880 million homes worldwide.
According to sports data and insights company Horizm’s Digital Value of Fans report for 2023, soccer dominated the global sports industry in terms of audience size, with Premier League and La Liga boasting the largest audiences with more than 863 million and 735 million followers generating $622 million (566 million euros) and $461 million (420 million euros) in value respectively.
The goal of this series is to collapse the distance between fans and the league.
Todd Allen, Budweiser
“Soccer sits at the center, too, of a rich cultural mix, which brands like Budweiser have traditionally excelled at playing in. It juxtaposes music, fashion and gaming, so aligns snugly to brand ethos and the entire target demographic,” commented James Kirkham, chief executive of culture consultancy Iconic.
“From players as fashion magazine cover stars, kit launches in the likes of Hypebeast, emerging ballers modeling Gucci not just Adidas, this is the reality of modern culture,” he continued. “So Budweiser can perfectly match up the values and pillars of its brand marketing strategy with that of the game itself and the fans it attracts—passions fueling one another and elaborately entwined, where the common denominators of football and a universal premium beer sit like perfect bedfellows.”
The Premier League plan
That Premier League agreement kicked off immediately with the global campaign “Be a King.” Last year the soccer focus evolved further to become a YouTube series in Nigeria titled The Budweiser Kings of Football Show featuring predictions, opinions and analysis of Premier League fixtures for local fans.
The brand’s development of YouTube content has now extended to the U.K. with a six-part series named Behind the Game, hosted by former Arsenal player and broadcaster Ian Wright. The format pairs iconic Premier League players with music artists in exclusive interviews to discuss their passions, hobbies and off-the-pitch insights.
“We are always working to create new touch points for fans to give them fun experiences and ways to interact with the brand, both at national and global levels. European football’s incredible audience stretches around the world. Through the partnership with the Premier League, we’re in a unique position to create content and campaigns that go beyond borders and resonate with fans in a meaningful way,” Todd Allen, vp of global marketing at Budweiser, told Adweek.
He admitted that the format is similar to that of the HBO series The Shop, hosted by LeBron James, and one that could be rolled out further should this series prove a success.
Behind the Game was developed and produced by Copa90 studios in collaboration with Premier League Productions.
Pushing the boundaries of sport
“We are always exploring new ways to push the boundaries of how we interact with fans as we expand our horizons in the realms of music and sports. The goal of this series is to collapse the distance between fans and the league and create content that speaks to fans’ interests and passions,” added Allen.
Released each Wednesday beginning April 12, each of the guests will have a soccer or musical background as the brand aims to place itself at the intersection of sports, music and culture.
“Choosing Ian Wright as the host of the show was the perfect way to bring everyone together in a way that felt natural. As someone who has played in the Premier League and is now a prominent TV and radio personality, he absolutely personifies Budweiser’s mission to connect football with the culture that surrounds it to inspire fans all over the world,” continued Allen.
Each new episode will be hosted on the Premier League’s YouTube channel and will also be promoted through Budweiser’s social channels, which will host additional exclusive content. Forty international broadcasters, including Sky Sports, will also be given access to the series through their deals with the Premier League, as will video sharing site BiliBili in China.
Ged Colleypriest, founder of Underdog Sports Marketing, believes the content series will resonate with soccer fans if it is genuinely “authentic.” He continued to highlight the distribution plan through Sky Sports and other media owners as helping to place the series where fans are already seeking out sports content.
“It’s in keeping with the Premier League creating more content from outside the game for themselves, and it helps that they are able to do that with a brand,” Colleypriest added.
Both partners will also leverage a variety of digital assets to promote the series, including trailers and teasers for each episode as well as behind-the-scenes content shared by both parties as well as the featured players and musicians.
The success of the series will depend on the number of views and interactions it produces with fan sentiment, measured after each episode is launched.
“We expect fans to resonate with this series and to really enjoy hearing these genuine discussions about the players’ and musicians’ lives and careers, unknown passions, challenges, triumphs and more,” Allen said.
