Despite the rise of women’s soccer in America, female soccer players were still being paid 19x less than their male peers. The issue appeared to be gender discrimination, but a closer look revealed there was also a massive sponsorship gap. As one of only three sponsors of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), Budweiser set out to close the pay gap by addressing the sponsorship gap.
We created nine placeholder products for some of the biggest sponsorship categories in sports to show brands what they were missing out on. Thousands of fans ran with the campaign, urging their favorite brands to help force change in the league.
As a result of our campaign, the NWSL added six new sponsors for the 2020 season and announced an increase in their salary cap by almost 20%.
The campaign was featured in Forbes, Ad Age’s Strongest Ideas of 2019 and Yahoo.
2021 Cannes Lions - 2x Gold, 2x Bronze, Glass Lion Shortlist, 7x Shortlist
2021 One Show - 3x Gold, 1x Silver, 1x Bronze, 2x Merit
2021 D&AD Awards - 2x Graphite Pencils, 4x Wood Pencils
2021 Caples Awards - 2x Gold
2021 Webby Awards - 4x winner
2020 Clio Awards - 1x Gold, 3x Silver, 3x Bronze
2020 Clio Sports - 3x Grand Clio, 2x Gold, 1x Silver
Credits
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Associate Creative Director: Rami Levi
Art Director: Brittany Newman
After 16 years in the NBA, 3 championships, and an Olympic Gold Medal, Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade announced that he would be retiring at the end of the 2018-19 season. To honor his final season, Wade began swapping jerseys with the NBA superstars who had defined his career in basketball. But when we took a closer look, we found that Dwyane Wade’s career is actually better defined by all the good he’s done outside of basketball. We had a thought: shouldn’t the people he’s helped get a chance to swap jerseys with their hero? Our emotional tribute video became one of the most successful pieces of creative in Budweiser history.
The campaign was featured in ESPN, People Magazine, USA Today, and Sports Illustrated.
Awards
2019 Clio Awards - 1x Gold, 1x Silver, 2x Bronze
2019 Cannes Lions -1x Silver, 2x Bronze, 1x Shortlist
2020 Clio Sports - 2x Gold, 4x Silver, GOLD - Social Media (Social Video)
2020 One Show - 3x Shortlist
2020 Webby Awards - 1x Nominee
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
By the spring of 2021, one thing was undeniably true: we had all been apart for so long that even the messy parts of life looked pretty damn good.
So as vaccination rates started to rise in the United States, we launched a film about the promise of a tomorrow that was right around the corner.
Here’s to the mess we never thought we’d miss.
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Lenois
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Chris Greer
Art Director: Brittany Newman
The COVID-19 pandemic forced nearly every NFL team to make the difficult decision to close their stadiums to fans for the kickoff of the 2020 season. For many fans these stadiums are more than just a place to watch a game. So where do fans turn when they can no longer go to the place they call home?
As one of the NFL’s biggest sponsors, Pepsi wanted to help celebrate the power of fandom during a year unlike any other. We surprised a family of lifelong Steelers fans with their real seats from the stadium so they could feel connected to their city and restore a little bit of normalcy to a trying year that turned every game into a home game.
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Lenois
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
We helped Budweiser launch their biggest product innovation and all around badass new beer: The Budweiser Reserve Copper Lager, brewed in partnership with Jim Beam. Our brief was to introduce the beer to the world with a film that aired during the 2019 Academy Awards.
In the film “A New Bud in Town,” Charlize Theron makes her way through a dive bar, kicking everyone’s ass in bar games along the way, all while holding her beer in one hand and not spilling a drop. Would you mess with her? I wouldn’t mess with her.
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
Senior Copywriter: Tory Dickerson
Busch Beer hijacked the most boring part of the Daytona 500 and made it the most exciting part for viewers at home. Our campaign #Pit4Busch gave fans a chance to win a new Ford Mustang, but the contest was only open during the 17 seconds our driver made a pit stop. So when the race stopped on the track, another started online. And with five pit stops throughout the race, we stole conversation all day.
Awards
2021 OneShow - 1x Shortlist, 1x Merit
2021 Webby Awards - 2x Honoree
2020 Clio Sports - 1x Silver
Credits
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Maya Renz
Senior Copywriter: Chelsea Furlong
To help spread the exciting news that every drop of Budweiser (and that’s a lot of drops) will now be brewed with 100% renewable electricity from wind power, we created the first radio campaign controlled entirely by the wind.
We launched our ads in Oklahoma at the site of Budweiser’s wind turbine farm, and then tracked real wind patterns across America to decide where the ads would run next. Our campaign featured 26 unique scripts and covered 24 towns in 4 days. Turns out the wind can do more than brew beer, it can also be used to tell people about it brewing beer.
Awards
2019 Clio Awards - Bronze - Audio Technique
2019 Clio Awards - Bronze - Radio
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Creative Director: James Kuczynski
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Each year The Port Authority of New York hangs holiday decorations over the Holland Tunnel, one of New York City’s busiest roadways. Each year, it’s not a big deal. But last year, the city massively dropped the ball. In true New York fashion, people were not happy about it and took to the internet to complain. We spotted an opportunity to join the conversation and changed the decorations on our brewery to match the hideous tunnel ones, protesting that we wouldn’t change them back until the city followed suit. Our tweet went viral and gained over 92 million impressions. But most importantly, the city caved on fixed the decorations.
Awards:
2018 Shorty Awards Gold - Call To Action
2018 Shorty Awards Finalist - Real Time Response
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
Only 61% of ads today positively portray women. In honor of International Women’s Day we took three historically sexist print ads from Budweiser’s past and reimagined them in the context of today. We commissioned female illustrators to rebuild each ad from the ground up, making it clear that women aren’t props or housewives, they’re beer drinkers.
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
Senior Copywriter: Chelsea Furlong
Art Director: Casey Burke
Derek Jeter wasn’t simply the shortstop for the New York Yankees. During his 17 years in pinstripes, he became a symbol of the city. The swagger of the Bronx, the grit of Brooklyn and the flash of Manhattan were on display every time he took the field. So when it came time for the Yankees to retire Derek Jeter’s number forever, Budweiser decided to honor his legacy in a way that was unique to his connection to the city that loves him. Our “This Bud’s For 2” film showed New Yorkers from all walks of life retiring his number across all five boroughs in solidarity. From subways to cinemas to convenience stores, regular 2s came down and Yankee pinstripe 2s went up in their place.
Awards
2018 Cannes Lions - Entertainment Lions - Sports: Film, Series & Audio - Shortlist
2018 Sports Clios - Branded Entertainment & Content - Film - Silver
2018 Sports Clios - Film - Short Form - Bronze
2018 Sports Clios - Social Video - Shortlist
2018 Webby Awards - Best Video Campaign - Shortlist
2018 Webby Awards - Best Short Form Video (Branded) - Honored
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Chris Bradley
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Creative Director: Tim Clarke
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Associate Creative Director: Alex Mulhearn
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of the most popular athletes in America, grew up in the Budweiser car. When he decided to retire after 14 years we knew we had to help his army of fans say goodbye to their hero. We brought back his original car, the one fans hadn’t seen on a track in 10 years, for one last lap. Our film was part tribute video and part trip down memory lane. The video helped the sporting world toast their most important driver, racking up a 25% earned media rate and over 13 million views throughout his final race weekend. We were able to create a Super Bowl sized moment for the brand in the middle of November. But most importantly we helped send off a legend in a way that only Budweiser could.
Awards
2018 Cannes Lions - Social and Influencer Lions - Social Video - Shortlist
2018 Sports Clios - Film - Short Form - Silver
2018 Sports Clios - Branded Entertainment & Content - Film - Bronze
2018 Webby Awards - Food & Beverage - Shortlist
2018 Webby Awards - Video Longform - Recognized
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Chris Bradley
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
Senior Copywriter: Tory Dickerson
With so many veterans feeling disconnected and forgotten, Budweiser wanted to raise awareness about the issues facing today’s military and their families. And they wanted to do it in a way that was authentic to their brand and the people they were helping. By featuring actor and former marine Adam Driver surprising a military family at their home and awarding a scholarship to the daughter of a wounded soldier, we captured a heartfelt moment that became, at the time, the most shared post in the brand’s history.
Awards
2018 Webbys - People's Voice Award - Film & Video - Viral (branded)
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Chris Bradley
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
Senior Copywriter: Tory Dickerson
How do you celebrate a win 108 years in the making?
We pieced together real audio calls from Harry Caray, the legendary voice of the Chicago Cubs, to imagine what his final call to end the game would have been if he had been alive to hear it. These were the words Cubs fans had been waiting their whole lives to hear. On the ground in Chicago for the duration of the series, our doc-style film showed the energy of a city coming together to cheer on their team.
Awards
2017 Cyber Lions - Shortlist - Real Time Response - Social
2016 #TheYouTubeAd Of The Year - “Ad That Goes Straight To The Heart”
2016 Telly Awards - Silver - Branded Content & Entertainment in General - Social
2016 Telly Awards - Silver - Branded Content & Entertainment in General - Viral
2016 Telly Awards - Silver - Video/Shows/Segments in General - Sports
2016 PR Week Brand Film Festival - Winner
2016 Shorty Awards - Gold Distinction - Live Event Coverage
2016 Shorty Awards - Finalist - Facebook Video - Harry Caray’s Last Call
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Chris Bradley
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
We worked with the MLB to create a Mother’s Day campaign to celebrate the special role moms play in their son’s lives. We showed how, after some of the biggest moments in their careers, MLB’s biggest stars always called their mom first. For the national broadcast of the Mother’s Day game we bought out the rest of the commercial break so fans could use that time to call their mom and wish her happy Mother’s Day before the game came back on.
…we also challenged The San Diego Padres to change their name to the San Diego Madres for the day. They agreed, but then a random fan stole their real Twitter handle and for a few hours a highschool kid was a baseball team. But that’s a different story that my mom is less proud of and I can explain to you in person.
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Budweiser came to us to help launch their “Drink Wiser” program and encourage people to hydrate between beers for the holiday season. So we put elves on the shelves to watch people and cheer them on when they make the responsible decision. Only our elves were a little taller…
We partnered with NBA stars Kyle Kuzma, Steven Adams and Tim Hardaway Jr. to launch our “Deck The Shelves With Holiday Elves” campaign during the broadcast of the 2018 Christmas Day NBA games.
Credits
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Group Creative Director: Adam Lock
Creative Director: Todd Bradley
Associate Creative Director: Harry Barron
Associate Creative Director: Rami Levi
Senior Art Director: Jes Vallee
Art Director: Brittany Newman
