AB InBev gears up for World Cup soccer games
Anheuser-Busch InBev is ramping up spending on marketing initiatives ahead of the soccer World Cup this summer after promotions helped buoy demand in Colombia and Peru.
Budweiser's campaign for the World Cup, the most-watched sporting event globally, began this week. The initiative comes as AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, works to drive more revenue from athletic tournaments and social occasions after the past decade's influx of smaller brands weaned drinkers off its mass-market brews. To address that challenge, the Leuven, Belgium-based company is investing $2 billion in promoting its brands and improving supply chains in the U.S.
This year's World Cup is held in Russia, a market dominated by Carlsberg. The Danish brewer said last week the Russian market shrank by about 5 percent in the first quarter, hurt by restrictions on bottling and the threat of international sanctions on the country's economy.
AB InBev said it plans World Cup promotions for Budweiser in Argentina and in Nigeria, where it started selling the brand in March.
The event is "an opportunity for us to step up Budweiser execution in terms of brand performance in all the markets we operate in," Chief Financial Officer Felipe Dutra said on a call with reporters.
One of the first ads in the new campaign involves hundreds of drones flying beer bottles from Budweiser's home in St. Louis, down the shores of Rio de Janeiro, through the jungles of Latin America and over snowy mountain ridges. They drop off the beverages in Shanghai's city center, in British pubs and finally at Moscow's soccer stadium.