Well, the A-B InBev camp hit the newswire late in the day to announce that they’ve chosen AKQA as digital agency of record for Budweiser, Bud Light and Stella Artois. As a result, AKQA will handle online and mobile programs, app development and work in tandem with each brew brand’s AOR including Anomaly (Budweiser), Translation (Bud Light) and Mother (Stella).
In a statement, A-B’s VP of U.S. marketing Paul Chibe says, “The importance of being able to connect with consumers digitally is at an all-time high, and AKQA has demonstrated they have the expertise and strategic insight needed to elevate our digital efforts to a new level. Our traditional marketing remains second-to-none, and our partnership with AKQA will ensure we have the world-class digital marketing to match.”
As you may have heard, this is the first time A-B InBev has selected a lead digital agency as previous digital efforts were overseen by the lead creative agency managing other partners on a per project basis. Yes, there was a pitch for the lead digital biz but we haven’t been told who else was in the running.