Budweiser has been an international sponsor of soccer for decades, including the sport’s largest competition—the FIFA World Cup—which it has supported for 36 years.
English soccer in particular has been rich marketing ground for parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev over the last 20 years. Its longstanding partnership with the Football Association led to Budweiser becoming the official beer of the FA Cup Tournament since 2015. Four years later, it extended the relationship for a further three years and becoming a sponsor of the English women’s national team.
Also in 2019, the brand agreed to a multi-year partnership with two of the world’s biggest soccer leagues—LaLiga in Spain and the Premier League in England—as their official beer sponsor to further its fan engagement opportunities. This was part of a plan to activate the brand across five continents and reach more than 20 countries, including China, South Africa, Chile, Nigeria and India.
A global sporting phenomenon, the Premier League is currently available across 188 countries and claims its matches are available in 880 million homes worldwide.
According to sports data and insights company Horizm’s Digital Value of Fans report for 2023, soccer dominated the global sports industry in terms of audience size, with Premier League and La Liga boasting the largest audiences with more than 863 million and 735 million followers generating $622 million (566 million euros) and $461 million (420 million euros) in value respectively.
The goal of this series is to collapse the distance between fans and the league.
Todd Allen, Budweiser
“Soccer sits at the center, too, of a rich cultural mix, which brands like Budweiser have traditionally excelled at playing in. It juxtaposes music, fashion and gaming, so aligns snugly to brand ethos and the entire target demographic,” commented James Kirkham, chief executive of culture consultancy Iconic.
“From players as fashion magazine cover stars, kit launches in the likes of Hypebeast, emerging ballers modeling Gucci not just Adidas, this is the reality of modern culture,” he continued. “So Budweiser can perfectly match up the values and pillars of its brand marketing strategy with that of the game itself and the fans it attracts—passions fueling one another and elaborately entwined, where the common denominators of football and a universal premium beer sit like perfect bedfellows.”
The Premier League plan
That Premier League agreement kicked off immediately with the global campaign “Be a King.” Last year the soccer focus evolved further to become a YouTube series in Nigeria titled The Budweiser Kings of Football Show featuring predictions, opinions and analysis of Premier League fixtures for local fans.
The brand’s development of YouTube content has now extended to the U.K. with a six-part series named Behind the Game, hosted by former Arsenal player and broadcaster Ian Wright. The format pairs iconic Premier League players with music artists in exclusive interviews to discuss their passions, hobbies and off-the-pitch insights.
