Budweiser Weaves Esports Into Drink Driving Campaign in China

In recent years, Budweiser has gained significant mindshare in China with many of its sponsorship investments – in particular esports, music, urban street culture and celebrity endorsements – acting as the mainstays to their youth strategy.

In its latest “Smart Drinking, No Drink-Driving” campaign, the AB InBev-owned brand seamlessly combines esports and street culture in a short-film featuring popular Chinese rapper-dancer Wang Ziyi. 

The 24-year old star plays an inebriated esports fan who is flung into a virtual gaming world, where he must navigate various challenges to curb the temptation to engage in drink-driving.  

Following his victory, Hajiang (Harbin Beer’s virtual ambassador, also AB InBev-owned) arrives as his designated driver, and the message, “HAPI Together, Let’s Champion for a Zero Drink-Driving Future”,  comes across the screen.

Brands such as Budweiser have been diving into esports-related deals in China given their huge pull over young audiences. There are over 484m gamers in China, including 73% below the age of 35.  The COVID-19 enforced lockdown has also played a major role in hastening the rise of esports, and ensuing partnership deals.

Frank Wang, chief legal and corporate affairs officer at Budweiser APAC, echoed this, “ The pandemic has definitely accelerated the development of the esports industry. We already enjoy long-term working relationships with some of China’s top esports teams. We’re also a sponsor of League of Legends Pro League. We’re going to be investing a lot more in esports as it is the language of today’s youth.”

Tackling drink-driving is a major concern in China and by connecting the dots between the world of celebrity endorsement and esports, Budweiser’s continues it long-standing tradition as a brand to actively promote this cause in a creative way.

In terms of sponsorship expenditure in China, Budweiser is the 3^rd largest brand in the beer category (16.2%, US$12.8m) just behind fellow AB InBev-owned brand Harbin Beer (19.2%, US$15.2m). The brand’s investment in 2020 has been consistent, averaging about US$1.1m per quarter. Almost 30% of its investments lean towards non-sports platforms, namely celebrity endorsements and venue sponsorship.