Originating in the US, the ‘Dilly Dilly’ campaign quickly became a pop culture phenomenon with everyone from sports fans to celebrities adopting the phrase as a new form of “cheers”, sparking a snowball effect.
Created by Weiden+Kennedy, the UK TV ad will launch in the UK on Sunday 4th March during the Manchester City vs. Chelsea game on Sky Sports.
The Dilly Dilly ‘Banquet’ spot starts on game day in the kingdom, and friends of the royal family present gifts to the king and queen - the crowd cheers "Dilly Dilly!" as each guest offers up Bud Light until, one unfortunate friend bears a random, spiced honey mead wine. Without hesitation, the crowd raises a Bud Light toast as the wine giver is banished to the pit of misery.
As well as TV, the broader marketing campaign will comprise cinema, OOH, print, PR and digital, with investment across Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram. The multi-channel strategy to launch Dilly Dilly in the UK is predicted to reach 39.3m (86%) UK adults.
Andre Finamore, AB InBev Marketing Manager, said: “Bud Light is all about humour and friendship. In today’s chaotic world, the ability to be light-hearted is more important than ever and our Dilly Dilly campaign taps into this insight and aims to help consumers fall in love with beer again. We’re excited to bring what has quickly become a pop culture phenomenon in the US over to our UK and have fun with it, so stay tuned for more from Bud Light and Dilly Dilly in 2018.”
The campaign accompanies the launch of a new Bud Light bottle, which is already rolling out in-store across grocery and convenience, using the same iconic design and branding as the can format, which arrived in the UK last year.
Since hitting UK shores, Bud Light has tapped into the growing trend of alcohol moderation amongst health-conscious consumers – a trend being driven by millennials. In the off-trade, beer and cider under 3.5% ABV has grown 37.2% in volume and 46.4% in value over the past year.
Enjoying a high purchase rate among a millennial audience of 18-25 year olds, Bud Light has been the main driver of growth in the core lager category, with one in 10 Bud Light buyers new to beer (9.3% are new to beer and 13.2% are new to lager).Bud Light also holds a strong repeat purchase rate of 29%,nearly double to what is expected of a new brand and indicative of its growing fan base with 43% of lager shoppers buying bottles only*.
Mathew Kramer, creative at W+K London, said: “To support the launch of Bud Light in bottles, we took the wildly successful 'Dilly Dilly" campaign from W+K New York, and adapted it to the UK market using mock-medieval language and visuals to build on its playful tone.”
W+K New York
Creative Director: John Parker
Asst. Creative Dir.: Brandon Henderson
Creatives: Jacob Weinstein + Will Binder
Producer: Temma Shoaf
Account Supervisor: Brandon Pracht
Account Manager: Price Manford
Asst. Account Mgr.: Lauren Wilson
Bus. Affairs Mgr.: Justine Lowe
Production Company: O Positive
Post Prod: Arcade Edit
Post Prod: The Mill
Sound: Sound Lounge
W+K London
Creative Directors: Dan Norris & Ray Shaughnessy
Creatives: Mat Kramer & Rachel Clancy
Production Assistant: Iona Patterson
Designers: Alex Pelham-Thursby & Xueling Wang
Illustrations: Ben Hassler
Group Account Director: Nick Owen
Account Director: Amy Kilty
Account Manager: Holly Baker-Cliff
Planning Director: Andy Wright
Planner: Harriet Lowson
Bus. Affairs Manager: Alex Coomer
Post Prod: The Mill
Animation: Laurence Mence
Sound: Vaudeville Studios
