Budweiser Football Cup - Involving People in Brand Building

Budweiser, the pale lager beer brand owned by Anheuser-Busch, hed the 2008 Budweiser Football Cup (Bud Cup) six-on-six international final on May 5 in Manchester United’s Old Trafford. Budweiser has been organising this tournament every year since 2002, but this year for the first time it provided an opportunity to Indian football fans to participate and compete in the Bud Cup.




The beer company entered India in the middle of 2007 in a joint venture with Crown International. The Bud Cup is a 20 minute six-on-six (six players on each side) football tournament with 18 teams of amateur footballers from around the world. To be part of the tournament, participants need not be professional football players. Enthusiastic fans can form a team of six players and get themselves registered.


After the registrations, 25 teams from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and 200 teams from Goa will be chosen through a lucky draw and compete in the regional finals in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Goa. The regional winners will then compete for the title of national champions in Mumbai. The winning team will compete with 17 other teams from around the world at the Manchester United stadium at Old Trafford in Manchester, in the UK.

To promote the event, Budweiser has fabricated a special float-on-wheels that will embark on a 39 day journey across 10 cities in India. The float will have football games that will allow fans to interact with brand and the concept of the Bud Cup. Fans can register their teams on the float itself. The float went around cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Goa, Manipal, Mangalore, Sakleshpur, Mysore, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

Can this innovation be used by broking companies and mutual funds to go deep into the places and arrange events Money Quotient quiz etc. in various neighbourhoods and thus involve people directly in brand building. This is in contrast to some TV show.
What Budweiser has done is bottom up involvement brand building.

Edward Jones sponsoring St. Louis Rams 2006

There is an agreement to name the playing field at the Edward Jones Dome "The Russell Athletic Field" for Monday, December 11. The field naming rights agreement - even for a day - is believed to be the first of its kind in sports marketing history.

Dallas Kersey, Edward Jones principal in charge of marketing, says the firm welcomes the deal which will add a major corporate sponsor to support one of the city's great sports franchises. "Calling the playing field "Russell Athletic Field" on Monday night is a terrific way of launching a broad branding initiative between the Rams and Russell Athletic" Kersey said. "We think it will add to the excitement and enhance all fans' experiences at the Edward Jones Dome."

Edward Jones provides financial services for individual investors in the United States, and through its affiliates, in Canada and the United Kingdom. The firm, which has headquarters in St. Louis signed a long term naming rights deal with the Rams that extends to 2014 with an option to renew through 2025.

Russell Athletic and the St. Louis Rams will also work together on several philanthropic initiatives to benefit St. Louis and surrounding communities, including joining forces with Edward Jones to support the local United Way. Additionally, Russell Athletic will support the St. Louis Rams' Junior Cheerleader program by establishing a Youth Cheerleader Council to promote best practices, honor local high school cheerleading as well as football squads weekly for outstanding achievement.

http://www.stlouisrams.com/article/59733/