Bud Light Brings ‘Dilly Dilly!’ Phenomenon to the UK
Hear ye, hear ye! Bud Light, one of the latest additions to AB InBev’s premium beer portfolio, announces the launch of a new, fully integrated marketing campaign that celebrates the brand’s light-hearted personality – all inspired by the latest phrase taking the US by storm.
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.
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.
.@budlight Brings #DillyDilly Phenomenon to the UK https://t.co/PKtZbjWgOA @WiedenKennedy #Alcohol #Beverage #Marketing pic.twitter.com/B0aLJmWO1F
— FAB News (@fabnewslive) March 2, 2018
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.[1]
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).[2] Bud Light also holds a strong repeat purchase rate of 29%,[3] 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.”
[1] Nielsen Scantrack Total Coverage data to 27.01.18
Wanna kick back, have some brewskis, and watch something that isn’t PUBG or Fortnite? Tune into #DillyDilly Saturday tonight. 😉 pic.twitter.com/g2bLS5vsmo
— DrnkOnShdws (@DrnkonShdws) March 3, 2018
[2] 104 w/e Beer Data, Kantar Worldpanel
[3] 44 w/e 31/12/17 Beer data, Kantar Worldpanel