Budweiser Deepens Global Football Sponsorship Portfolio; Activates In China and India

The Budweiser deals will cover over 20 countries, including China and India. The consumer and football fan engagement-centric activations include trophy tours, viewing parties and content collaborations as well as TV and out-of-home promotion along with limited edition packaging design.

“These partnerships will allow us to further connect with key consumers and football fans across the globe,” said Pedro Earp, chief marketing officer at Anheuser-Busch InBev, the maker of Budweiser.

The move signals the brand’s growing relationship with the beautiful game: it has long been the official beer sponsor for the FIFA World Cup and has also backed the highly successful US women’s team.

Earlier this year, Budweiser has also beefed up its women’s football sponsorship portfolio by backing England’s national women’s team as well as National Women’s Soccer League in the US. This is obviously uncharted territory in Asia, and Budweiser can certainly leverage on possible deals with the Japanese and Chinese national women’s football teams.

According to ASN data, Budweiser is joint 6^th with Tsingtao (5.5% share, slightly over US$19.8m) in the Asian sponsorship market since Q416. The bulk (90.4%) of its budget has been focused in China, however, the brand’s investment has significantly dipped from its peak of US$7.6m+ in Q317 and the first half of 2019 has seen a figure slightly under US$1.1m.

While it does have a diverse portfolio, focusing on music festivals, branded content and sport… its two biggest recent deals have been in sport, backing NFL China (~US$3.2m) and the China leg of this year’s football pre-season tournament ICC (~US$300K).