Mid-August saw FIFA partner Budweiser hide hundreds of branded prize boxes in major cities around the world and then linked up with a team of athlete ambassadors to invite football fans to find them in an early mobile/OOH/in-person phase of its Qatar 2022 Men’s World Cup activation programme called ‘The Drop’.
The official beer of the FIFA World Cup’s scavenger hunt promotion, which got under way on 9 August to mark 100 days until the tournament kick-off, incentivised participation through prize boxes containing a mix of signed memorabilia, a year’s supply of beer and tickets to the tournament
The campaign, which is running in multiple markets including Argeintia, Brazil and the UK (but not in the beer brand’s home USA market), saw the brand and its athlete endorsers tease QR codes across their social channels to fire fan curiosity and by simply scanning the codes via smartphones supporters can uncover the coordinates leading to the prize boxes.
Big name footballers who are expected to star in the tournament – including Leo Messi, Neymar Jr and Raheem Sterling – are part of the brand’s player ambassador team promoting the search on their personal social platforms and by featuring in the brand campaign creative.
Indeed, one Messi Instagram post generated more than 1.4m Likes within a week of going online.
The campaign’s hero spot sees Messi stars in an ad where he acts as the master orchestrator of the prize drops. The spot, which draws on the style of gritty espionage thrillers, sees the forward deploy a crack team to place red boxes bearing the Budweiser branding in various cities around the globe. Neymar Jr. and Sterling make cameos as well.
Each QR code location links to an athlete ambassador’s career: examples include Wembley Stadium (near to where Sterling grew up), Pacaembu Stadium (where Neymar Jr played his first professional match), as well as the street in Argentina where Messi first started playing.
Last weekend we dropped golden tickets around the world, now these lucky fans are living the dream of heading to Qatar for the @FIFAWorldCup. #TheDrop #YoursToTake pic.twitter.com/Z6hTrk3Gzr
— Budweiser (@Budweiser) August 17, 2022
“This year’s tournament is a unifying global moment that celebrates the possibilities of what’s to come and the athletes that continue to inspire us,” commented Budweiser Global VP Marketing Todd Allen.
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This campaign rolled out well ahead of the 20 November FIFA Men’s World Cup kick-off and thus sees Budweiser seek to stoke early excitement and generate early engagement through its rights via a digital/physical treasure hunt which uses its endorser stable to draw a link between the game’s past, present and future.
The 2022 World Cup will mark the 10th year that Budweiser has been an official FIFA tournament partner.
Interestingly, Budweiser was one of several FIFA partner brands – alongside many other organisations and millions of fans – to initially pushback against the choice of Qatar to host the tournament.
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