Boatload of Busch
Crushing social media for the internet’s most talked-about beer brand.
What we did
Account Management
Creative Direction
Art Direction
Copywriting
Social Media Strategy
Creative Production
Insights
Busch Light doesn’t just have a culture around it—it has a cult following. The Busch Light Army is made up of some of the most excited, engaged, fun-loving folks on the internet, and we leaned into ’em, digging deep to find authentic ways to connect. Starting with their passion points around the outdoors, country music, fishing, hunting, and, of course, Busch Light, we built out a slew of ways for people to engage with the brand on social media, from our loyal followers to our newest fans.
STRATEGY
With social engagement as the goal, we wanted to make it as easy and fun as possible for the Busch Light Army to participate. That meant coming up with simple ways to game engagement, not asking too much of people, and incentivizing repeat posts that didn’t feel spammy.
SOLUTION
We planned an all-day blitz for National Beer Day, asking followers to give us a good reason why they deserved come celebratory beer. We CashApp’d $10k in beer money directly to some of the best responses, ramping up the urgency with “power hours” where we gave away 60 cases in 60 minutes.
A few weeks later, we helped promote the brand’s special edition fishing cans with a contest we called Boatload of Busch. We got a bass boat, packed it to the gills with Busch Light, and built out a bunch of posts, photos and clues to help followers to guess how many cans were in the boat. Repeat guesses weren’t just allowed—they were encouraged.
RESULTS
Our goal for each contest was 30k social mentions. We blew that goal out of the water both times. Not only was Busch Light the most talked-about beer brand on National Beer Day—it was the most talked-about topic on Twitter that day, period. The brand was trending at #1 for most of the day, out-competing MLB opening day, the first day of the Masters, and the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice. Boatload earned more than 145,000 mentions and more than 4 million impressions, with an engagement rate four times higher than the brand’s average.
We also gained the brand thousands of new followers, building out an even bigger Busch Light Army and helping Busch become the most talked-about brand in the Beer and Beyond Beer category on social media.