Deuce Studio, the London-based brand design agency, recently collaborated with Budweiser to create a limited-edition can for its 2021 Labor Day campaign, in celebration of hard-working Americans. This partnership marks the culmination of the first Upwork CoLab, a new Upwork brand-partnership program that connects freelancers and agencies with exciting brands to collaborate on high-value, relevant, and innovative projects.
Deuce wanted to ‘Raise a Bud’ by asking Budweiser drinkers to nominate a hard-working American, be it a friend, family member or colleague in their life. Entrants posted a picture and story of them on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook using #RaiseABud #Contest and tagging @budweiserUSA. Of the nominated workers, 10 lucky finalists will receive their name emblazoned on a personalised Labor Day Budweiser can, custom-made especially for them, with one individual winning three months’ worth of wages paid by Budweiser.
Workers will be forever commemorated through the interactive campaign website where audiences will be able to read every one of the chosen American workers’ stories.
“The campaign that Deuce Studio created has helped us achieve one of our larger brand objectives, to be able to connect with our consumers in an exciting and relevant way through culture. At Budweiser a big part of what we do is to champion American spirit and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. We feel the campaign Deuce has delivered does exactly that, by celebrating labourers and everything they have done to keep the country going in what has been a challenging few years. We were really happy with the way Deuce handled every part of the project and delivered a campaign that hit all of our deliverables and objectives.” – Jake Vizek, Senior Brand Director, Budweiser.
To inform the creative process and develop the campaign approach, Deuce determined three key tenets that underpin the Budweiser consumer using the phrase Blood Sweat and Beers as a point of inspiration. Firstly, ‘blood’: in the context of COVID, the importance of family connections and home are ever more pronounced. Just like its consumers, Budweiser is a heritage brand that takes fierce pride in its provenance and ancestral roots. Second, ‘sweat’: Pew Research Center found that one in six US employees lost their job at the start of the pandemic. Whilst this was clearly devastating, 12 industries employing some 55+ million people were deemed ‘essential’ at the start of the pandemic.
The COVID era has highlighted both the existential importance of workers as well as their vulnerability to danger and job loss. Thirdly, ‘beers’: it is workers that make Budweiser what it is today, driving the industry forward. A study from the Beer Institute states that around 210,000 Americans are employed by brewers and distributors, and each job in the brewing industry generates a further 30 jobs in associated industries such as farming, transportation and hospitality.
For the personalised winner’s can, Deuce Studio took the iconic Budweiser design and made subtle alterations, including a reworked insignia made to resemble a medallion and a customised beer glass illustration. The design centres around the winner’s name, preceded by a piece of bespoke typography inspired by the late 19th century era of the first Labor Day, reading ‘This Bud’s For You’.“When developing the Labor Day campaign, it was important to keep the focus on the workers and the contributions they’ve made. We took visual cues from the time period that Labor Day originated to pay homage to previous generations of workers as well as today’s.” – Richard Patrick, Creative Director & Co-Founder, Deuce Studio.
In addition to the limited edition can design, Deuce created an accompanying website to complement the initial social media campaign and expand on the experience by featuring some of the nominated workers’ inspiring stories alongside the history of Labor Day and how it has impacted American workers. Deuce Studio hoped to appeal to Budweiser’s target consumer’s values of authenticity and patriotism, and ultimately create a campaign that reinforces Budweisers values and ambitions as a brand – championing the best of America and the ordinary people that have done extraordinary things.
The campaign aimed to generate quality nominations via social media in order to shine a light on some of the amazing stories of dedicated workers from all over America. The campaign which ran over Labor Day weekend racked up over 500k impressions and 200 submissions.Deuce Studio was awarded the opportunity to collaborate with Budweiser to bring their ideas to life through the Upwork CoLab brand partnership program.
“We started Deuce with the clear intention of doing the most creative work possible, with the best, most ambitious brands, and Upwork has enabled us to do that through this Budweiser collaboration.” says Jonny Aldrich, Managing Director & Co- Founder, Deuce Studio.
Source: Deuce Studio
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