2019 Brand Experience & Activation

BUDWEISER RECUP ARENA

Short List
TitleBUDWEISER RECUP ARENA
BrandAB INBEV
Product/ServiceBUDWEISER
Category C03. Exhibitions / Installations
Entrant BOOTLEG Moscow, RUSSIA
Idea Creation BOOTLEG Moscow, RUSSIA
PR PROMO AGE Moscow, RUSSIA
Production SAVE AS IT IS Moscow, RUSSIA
Production 2 SUPERDESIGNERS Moscow, RUSSIA
Production 3 MONOLEAK Moscow, RUSSIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Alyosha Starodubov BOOTLEG Creative Director
Nikita Nikiforov BOOTLEG Senior Copywriter
Anton Chalov BOOTLEG Senior Art-director
Aleksander Nikiforov AB InBev Marketing Manager for BUD, AB InBev
Konstantin Tamirov AB InBev Marketing Director Russia
Tatyana Polyakova AB InBev Corporate Social Responsibility Manager
Sergey Slepnev AB InBev Senior Brand Manager BUD
Evgeny Volkov AB InBev Brand Manager BUD
Yuliya Biletskaya AB InBev Senior Media Manager
Evgeniya Litvinova AB InBev External Communications Manager
Irina Shchukina AB InBev External Communications Specialist
Ekaterina Shenets BOOTLEG Managing Director
Vladimir Pervozvansky BOOTLEG Client Service Director
Kseniya Rubtsova BOOTLEG Senior Account Manager
Roman Sidorov BOOTLEG Strategic Planning Director
Anastasia Stepanosova BOOTLEG Strategic planner
Valera Gorokhov BOOTLEG Senior Producer
Diana Seifetdinova BOOTLEG Producer Assistant
Manu Meyer Save As It Is Executive producer
Ivan Buralkin Save As It Is Executive producer
Sergey Petrenko Save As It Is CG Supervisor
Klavdia Shifr Save As It Is Creative producer
Ilya Perevedencev Superdesigners studio Producer
Valery Linchuk Superdesigners studio Executive producer
Evgeniya Gorodnicheva PromoAge Head of integrated communications
Anna Avakova PromoAge Group head of projects
Yana Sorokina PromoAge Senior project manager

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

ReCup Arena is an example of sports sponsorship that goes beyond its classical understanding. This project not only gives people the opportunity to become a part of the world Cup even after its completion, but also generally raises and supports peoples’ interest to football, as well as draws attention to the important problem of plastic processing. ReCup Arena has become free public place open to everyone who wants to play football and feel the atmosphere of the world cup. It meets all football standards and will serve football fans for 8-10 years.

background

Plastic recycling issue is a hot topic in Russia since there are just a few recycling factories in the country as well as people themselves are not used to sorting garbage and recycling in general. Only 4% of all waste are recycled in Russia. At the same time 2018 will stay in country’s sport history since in summer Russia hosted the most significant football event ever - FIFA World Cup that left after it hundred of thousands Budweiser beer cups. Being official sponsor and socially responsible brand which follows the policy of ecological manufacturing, Budweiser decided not to just collect the used cups, but to do something meaningful that will bring people’s attention to the problem of plastic recycling, as well as turn the world cup heritage into something useful for people – ReCup arena.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

ReCup Arena – football field made of plastic beer cups left after FIFA World Cup. Budweiser collected and recycled 50.000 cups and turned them into the professional white field 65x42 meters in size with red marking. The field become free public place open to everyone who wants to feel the atmosphere of the world cup. Budweiser raised the problem of plastic recycling and enforced people to see this problem at a new angle and offered one of decisions. Being official World Cup sponsor, the brand prolonged football celebrations for years in future.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Plastic recycling issue is a hot topic in Russia since there are just a few recycling factories in the country as well as people themselves are not used to sorting garbage and recycling in general. The year 2018 was a peak of massive strikes and meetings related to trash recycling. Only 4% of all waste are recycled in Russia. At the same time 2018 will stay in country’s sport history since in summer Russia hosted the most significant football event ever - FIFA World Cup that left after it hundred of thousands Budweiser beer cups. Being official sponsor and responsible brand which follows the policy of ecological manufacturing and energy recycling, Budweiser decided not to just collect the used cups, but to do something meaningful that will bring people’s attention to the problem of plastic recycling and turn the world cup heritage into something useful for people – ReCup arena.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Budweiser cups are made of 100% polypropylene and 2 main parts – transparent white body and red bottom. Each cup was divided into these two parts. Both crashed into small particles and re-made into white and red granules. Later on, special fiber was made that became the main substrate of football field. White fiber was used for the main coverage 65x42 meters, red was used for the lines. The unusual color drew people’s attention and raised the question of why the color is white. That’s how they were immediately informed about the problem of plastic recycling and the solution introduced. The field itself meets all football standards and is made for amateur tournaments. The pitch became free community platform that could be used by anyone. That’s how brand drew attention to the problem of plastic recycling and also let people to feel the breath of world cup after its’ final.

List the results (30% of vote)

788 media were covering the ReCup project, including football, design, lifestyle, news and others: CNN, NBC, Sun, BBC, it’s nice that, guardian, adweek, the drum, 90 min, Eurosport. Media impressions - 3 008 788 037 people. The project was very well received by people in social networks as well as within comments under news publication. The pitch became free community platform that could be used by anyone. That’s how people were able to feel the breath of world cup even after its’ final, but most importantly the brand draw attention to the problem of plastic recycling and of offered its’ solution. This field will become a part of Russian and world football history as an example of socially responsible approach to sponsorship of sports events. Bud has given people the physical embodiment of their values and socially active strategy.