Beck's: MUSIC INSPIRED ART

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Localisation Campaign

Advertiser: AB INBEV / BECK’S

Product/Service: BEER

Date of First Appearance: Aug 1 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: STARCOM, London, UNITED KINGDOM

Entry URL: http://www.xfm.co.uk/becks

Senior Executive: James Nuttall (Starcom)

Media placement: OOH - N/a - 01/08/2009

Media placement: Press - The Observer - 01/08/2009

Media placement: Ambient - Various - 01/08/2009

Media placement: Digital - Various - 01/08/2009

Media placement: Radio - XFM - 01/08/2009



Results and Effectiveness

Entries to our competitions were in the thousands. Social media mentions were in the hundreds. Our pub murals were even featured in the national press.
The campaign really inspired people.
Two thirds of consumers said they liked Becks more as a result. Some 57 per cent said they were more likely to choose Becks.
And they did.
In large bar chains, where sales had been falling for five years, we started a reversal, with an 11% year-on-year gain. Similarly, off-trade sales were up 4%.



Creative Execution

We set about generating a big conversation about the best music-inspired art.
Influential radio presenters discussed their favourite album covers and launched a major competition asking audience members to design their own. The winners would see their music-inspired art on special Becks labels, and these bottles instantly became collectibles.
And we set to generating music-inspired art in numerous other ways, too.
Three up-and-coming artists produced giant murals for the front of three of London’s coolest music venues, pieces of art that certainly had the wow factor.
And we produced digital Adshels, where users could plug in their iPods to create their own designs inspired by their music – turning London commuters’ route home into a music-inspired art gallery. As befits a cutting-edge campaign, the interactive Adshels were a first.
We were also the first to wrap the cover of The Observer’s respected Music Monthly Magazine with ads featuring campaign artwork.



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

The Becks brand has a long history of sponsoring music and art.
And music and art have a long history of inspiring each other.
AB InBev knew that maintaining the association with cutting edge artists is more important than ever, because newer, more exotic-looking beer brands pop up seemingly every week.
It no longer had the budget to stage big live music events, as it did in the past. But by zeroing in on some specific, local targets in the heart of creative London, we were able to get much more for much less.
Our idea was to explore the links between music and art, to engage trend-setters and cutting-edge venues from both worlds, and then to encourage everyone with a creative edge to join us. By harnessing the power of user-generated content we amped up the effects of our traditional ad spending.
Our inspirational campaign was called “Music Inspired Art”.