Budweiser to sponsor Jay-Z movie
Budweiser is looking to accelerate its move toward branded entertainment by agreeing to sponsor a Ron Howard directed documentary about rapper Jay-Z’s music festival.
The ‘Made in America’ two-day festival, which is also backed by Budweiser, will take place in Philadelphia next month and feature performances from artists including Jill Scott, D’Angelo and Pearl Jam,
Hollywood director Howard wil put together a movie chronicling highlights from the event along with behind-the-scenes interviews from the performers. The film will be sold to a distributor for a release in America and the company says it will look to submit the film into film festivals ahead of a possible global launch.
It marks the latest move from Budweiser into branded content as it looks to emulate the success of Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy, which has put a renewed focus on using entertainment content to gain cut-through with younger drinkers. Earlier this year, the drinks business signed a deal with Spotify that will see the music streaming service develop a range of apps for the Coca-Cola brand. The brewer has previously stated that it aims to become a truly global beer, or the “Coke of beers” through its marketing.
In the UK, this strategy has revolved around the beer brand’s association with football because of its sponsorship of the FA Cup. Budweiser launched its first YouTube channel last month, which houses a range of football related content and will also show its FA Cup documentary ‘Dream On. The Journey of Wembley FC’ later this summer.
The company has said it plans to roll out similar initiatives on a global scale.
