Introducing the King of Beers!

The King of Beers has arrived–in style. In the summer of 2019, the world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, took its iconic brand Budweiser to the Dutch market under the name Bud. Glasnost was tasked with producing the appropriate drum roll to make way for the King. The focus was to be on free publicity that would reach a large target audience of beer drinkers with special attention to 18-34-year-old Millennials in large cities.

Breaking News

It was pretty obvious that the introduction of Bud had news value: an American brewer who enters the Dutch beer market is bound to be headline news. If said brewer also becomes a sponsor to Ajax, one of the most successful football clubs in the Netherlands, the press will surely go wild. And such was the case after we gradually introduced the Netherlands to the world’s favourite pilsner. The media were brimming with excitement.

King’s Alley

We didn’t rest on our laurels yet. If Kings are made on the streets, then Bud would have to go there too. The members of Bud’s target audience belong to various urban subcultures, such as the hip-hop or fashion scene.  They were invited to King’s Alley, a dark side street where they were inspired to become the master of their own destiny; to be a King.

Results

The news about Bud coming to the Dutch market combined with the Ajax sponsorship deal caused a national media uproar. A selection of the publications includes: Adformatie, Nu.nl, De Telegraaf, Trouw, FD, RTL Nieuws, NRC, BN De Stem, AD, de Volkskrant, Het Parool, Quote, Business Insider, Distrifood, Ajax Showtime and the regional newspapers of De Persgroep. A media value of € 500,000 was reached, coupled with positive impressions in the media, who shared the core message with their followers. The cumulative reach of the PR launch came to 145.6 million with a media value of € 1.5 million. As Glasnost Account Director Amber Haank puts it: ‘Wazaaaaaaaaa!’

Call to Action

Would you like to know more about the particulars of our media strategy or how we managed to gather all these influencers–for free? Get in touch.