A LITTLE CONTEXT:
I served as the sole strategic lead on this Budweiser Retro Ads Reimagined campaign at FCB. As a team, we modernized vintage Budweiser ads to better reflect how America looks today.

WHY I’M PROUD:
Our team’s passion for this project convinced the Budweiser client to let us make even more illustrations than they originally planned. It felt exciting and meaningful to work on diverse ads for such a huge brand.

THE PROBLEM:
As a brand, Budweiser has over 100 years of history. But although the brand is known globally, Budweiser has seen consistent volume and share declines over the years. While Budweiser is associated with iconic American occasions like the 4th of July and baseball games, it often isn’t top of mind for casual get-togethers, which happen much more frequently. As a whole, Bud’s core drinkers are older, and younger beer drinkers aren’t buying Budweiser.

TWO BIG QUESTIONS:
1) How do we get Budweiser to be top of mind for more occasions?
2) How do we make the brand more relevant to younger drinkers?

WHEN WE LAUNCHED THIS CAMPAIGN, ALMOST NO ONE WAS GOING OUT TO BARS. TWO BIG THINGS WERE HAPPENING IN CULTURE:
 1) COVID-19: A global pandemic transformed everyone’s life in a big way. Rather than going out, we were safely staying in…and drinking a whole lot more than usual.

 2) Black Lives Matter: The BLM Movement exploded in June 2020. Along with massive protests nationwide, brands were taking a stand to show their support.

THE SOLUTION:
Take inspiration from old Budweiser ads that feature almost exclusively white men, and modernize them to better represent how America looks today.

We featured BIPOC in our campaign and focused on at-home drinking occasions since this launched during COVID-19, while we were all spending the majority of our time at home. As an FCB team, we identified four relaxed at-home drinking occasions, created concept sketches, and then commissioned illustrator Michael Koelsch, known for mastering the retro era 50’s and 60’s style in his work, to bring the vision to life. Below are the final illustrations.

How the work came to life in a retail setting: