Budweiser as a brand has always been synonymous with the World Cup - having been an official sponsor since 1986. And beer has always been synonymous with the fan experience and celebrations surrounding the game even longer. Much to our surprise, two days before the Cup kick-off, beer was banned from being sold to fans in- and around the stadiums in Qatar.

With that, Budweiser was left with a warehouse full of beer that could not be sold. And a global marketing and experiential plan, four years in the making, completely turned on its head.

We couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. So we flipped the script and announced that we'd give away all of the would-be World Cup beer to whichever country won the Cup. It wasn't just about re-mobilizing a behemoth plan and global organization. But also about galvanizing fans around a new movement called #BringHomeTheBud

The internet and news media went into a frenzy as the word spread that beer was going to be banned at the World Cup in Qatar. With a simple tweet acknowledging the “awkwardness” of the situation, we made our first move. Shortly after, we followed up to announce that we were giving away all of the World Cup Budweisers to the winning country.

We needed to make sure that beer (and ultimately the Budweiser brand) would not only be at the center of the conversation but also be an integral part of the celebration. Little did we know that one simple tweet would start a global fan movement for free beer called #BringHomeTheBud.

Throughout the tournament we fanned the flames by encouraging the fans to not only cheer for their teams but to will home the biggest victory celebration the world has ever seen.

As a 30+ year sponsor, Budweiser has deep expertise in managing the complexities of supporting the World Cup, but no amount of scenario planning prepared the team for learning 48 hours before kick-off that beer would be banned from stadiums. After the initial shock, Budweiser gathered a cross-functional team from inside AB InBev and external partners to quickly strategize how to turn lemons into lemonade.

Since the beginning, Budweiser’s PR strategy was to solidify its position as the leading brand at the intersection of culture, sports and music. All efforts were intended to directly target existing brand loyalists and potential customers with one thing in common - celebrating match wins over an ice-cold beer. Key spokespeople were leveraged for media opportunities, including brand executives, to further share the thought process behind the creative campaign and quick thinking required to respond to the changed landscape.

As the world media got news of the beer ban all eyes turned to Budweiser.

Naturally, our efforts started where the news was exploding - Twitter. So we responded with a simple tweet acknowledging the “awkwardness” of the situation. After media picked up our retort, we doubled down by telling the world that all of the World Cup beer would go to the winning country. Then, we turned ordinary beer shipping containers into billboards dropping them in city squares across 7 countries and 4 continents - a highly shareable and visual demonstration of what was at stake.

When teams won, we delivered even more beer taking over major landmarks with localized messaging. And then in-stadium, we forced our way onto fieldboards that were seen over the Cup's broadcast. After the cup was won, we upheld our promise and took to the streets of Argentina's victory celebration with 1MM+ beers.

Even though our plans changed so quickly, the results were immediately astounding, exceeding all of our objectives while putting Budweiser at the center of the conversation.

Communication Objective: it became a cultural movement, driving brand fame and resonance with young LDA adults:

Media coverage was truly momentous and widespread globally: everyone from ESPN to Sky Sports, The Guardian, and NPR took part in the conversation. SNL did a skit about it. One Argentine fan even got a tattoo of it. And scores of Ecuadorian fans even chanted for it during their Cup match.

225B Impressions, 1MM+ Social Mentions, $400M in Earned Media, #1 Share of Voice making up over 70% of all mentions amongst other sponsors.