Social Media Campaign: Budweiser Bud Camp

The campaign

One of the biggest and most successful social marketing campaigns in recent years is Budweiser’s Bud Camp. The Bud Camp campaign utilized Facebook as a social media device which allowed for consumers to compete in a photo contest. However, the competition is only part of the fun because the prize for winning the competition is a weekend adventure away at the infamous Budweiser Bud Camp.

What Worked

We can all attest to the fact that we have been exposed to the playful and cleverly marketed adverting for Bud Camp on TV, billboards, and radio. However, the advertising does not stop there. The main reason that Budweiser has seen such great success with this campaign is that social media is at the heart of it. The social media marketing campaign is actually quite brilliant due to the fact that the target market is 19-24 year old males. I personally don’t think there is a social media platform out there which is better suited to reaching this demographic. The actual brilliance of the campaign is in the Facebook contest. According to Ben Seaton, associate marketing manager for Budweiser “The Facebook campaign borrows from our equity platform, which is all about the rules that guys live by. So the concept is to have consumers upload a photo related to the theme and have them attach a great rule to it.” The Budweiser Facebook fan page boasts over 300,000 fans which in itself is a great number of people in the target demographic who are able to get involved and compete in the contest. The prize at the end of the contest is basically a party weekend at a secret location with a number of close friends and 50 “Bud Camp girls”. This prize is perfect for the target demographic; more so than other prizes that consist of money or products because it is an experiential prize. The fact that it is an experiential prize means that the prize winners are able to experience an apparently amazing, exclusive party with their closest friends and 50 gorgeous women. For a 19-24 year old male this is a dream come true and for a shot at it all they have to do is pose for a creative picture, post it on the Facebook fan page, and write an equally creative caption. The winner is crowned victorious after receiving the largest number of votes for their picture. The contest is relatively easy and very fun to compete in. The Bud Camp social media campaign was a success in the sense that Budweiser was able to accurately and creatively reach their target market through a well-chosen marketing channel.

What Flopped

Although, the overall campaign was a success, it managed to successfully shun a huge target market of beer drinkers. While other beer companies are starting to realize the potential and scale of the female beer drinking market, the Bud Camp campaign has managed to exclude female beer drinkers. All in all, I would have to say that this social media campaign has been a success within its target market, but for the future I would recommend creating a campaign directed at the female beer drinker. This problem could be easily solved with a few small changes to create the “ultimate girls’ weekend”. To Budweiser Canada: you can thank me later for this great advice, it doesn’t always come so cheap.

http://mediaincanada.com/2009/07/02/labattbudcamp-20090702/