St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, Inc. this summer takes a break from supermodels and million-dollar prizes with Thirst for Summer, a three-stage effort rolling out next month.
“We’re shifting dollars around a little this time,” after 2000 and 2001 efforts featured “Sports Illustrated” swimsuit models and huge consumer prize pools, says Dan McHugh, A-B’s director of retail sales promotion. “The consumer is still involved, but we’re really focusing on the merchandising and trying to take care of the retailer.”
Shoppers get a recipe booklet containing self-liquidating offers for hats, volleyballs, and shirts, along with coupons for $1 off barbecue-related products from Clorox Co., Johnsonville Sausage, Kingsford Products Co., Snyders of Hanover, and Solo Cup Co.
The campaign features three creative flights pegged to the three major holidays: “Taste It” for Memorial Day, “Celebrate It” for July 4, and “Savor It” for Labor Day. The windows each include a consumer sweeps offering trips to (in order) Jamaica, British Virgin Islands, and Hawaii. Consumers enter via tear-pads or at bud.com and budlight.com.
More extensive trade incentives and account-specific programs (from sweeps to P-O-P displays) will “get us into areas of the store we wouldn’t normally be in,” says McHugh. P-O-P displays include picnic tables and grills, fake docks, and lifeguard chairs. A pair of St. Louis agencies handle: A-B division Busch Creative Services takes care of the first and third flights, Momentum the second.
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