'Bud House' hosting 32 nations' fans
Every soccer fan dreams of being on location for the World Cup -
but maybe not side by side with fans from every other participating
country.
But that's just what tournament sponsor Budweiser has in
mind. It's gathering fans from all 32 participating countries to
share a house in Cape Town, South Africa, for the summer and watch
the games together. That is, until their home teams get eliminated.
"Bud House" is what Anheuser-Busch InBev is calling the
reality show it plans to Webcast in conjunction with the World Cup,
which starts June 11. It's a major part of the brewer's marketing
of Budweiser as the World Cup's official beer.
"This is like an
'American-Idol'-meets-'Survivor'-meets-football thing," said Chris
Burggraeve, chief marketing officer for Anheuser-Busch InBev,
calling soccer "football," as it's known everywhere outside the
U.S.
AB-InBev will air six to eight Webisodes each day and may
stream some live. The last two fans left in the house will attend
the final World Cup match, and the fan from the winning country
will present the beer's most-valuable player award to the top
player of the tournament.
Auditions are well under way to select the 16 men and 16
women who will start out the show, which is to be produced by
Ridley Scott Associates, the parent company of several production
outfits affiliated with English film director Ridley Scott.
This is the seventh World Cup where Budweiser will be the
"official beer" but the first it will sponsor since Belgian brewer
InBev bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008.
AB-InBev hopes to make the all-American brew into a global
drink akin to Coca-Cola, a key reason it bought the St. Louis
brewer. And The World Cup - a huge worldwide sporting event on par
with the Olympics - presents a unique opportunity to launch that
strategy, Burggraeve said.
"There's nothing as powerful as World Cup as a global
platform for a global brand," said Burggraeve.
He wouldn't say how much AB-InBev will spend taking its
message to more than 50 markets around the world with World
Cup-related marketing. In countries where Budweiser is not a
leader, InBev will market some of its leading local brands instead,
such as Brahma in Brazil, Harbin in China and Jupiler in Belgium
and the Netherlands.
AB-InBev aims to engage fans in several ways this year.
People worldwide will be invited online to choose a "Man of the
Match" from players in each game. The brewer is also again hosting
its local, six-on-six soccer tournaments. And it will select 64
fans from around the world to be at the games to present the
trophies, which fans also will help design.