AB InBev bags Grand Prix, emerges Creative Marketer of the Year
By Zion Rufus
World’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) has bagged the Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity for its US beer brand Michelob Ultra’s Contract for Change.
The brewer will also be honored as this year’s Creative Marketer of the Year at the final Awards Show of the Festival on Friday 24 June 2022.
Contract for Change is an ongoing initiative launched back in 2019 with FCB Chicago and FCB New York. It is an agreement that farmers sign that guarantees them a buyer in three years when their organic transition is complete, removing the biggest barrier.
In North America, only 1% of farming is organic and, even if farmers want to make the transition to organic produce, it’s a lengthy and expensive process. In addition, there’s no guarantee that there will be a buyer at the end of the process.
Contract for Change was offered to all American farmers, with about 104,000 acres currently in transition. It also guarantees Michelob Ultra as their buyer in three years’ time for the brand’s beer, Pure Gold.
Commenting on the Award in an interview with MARKETING EDGE, Dimitri Michailidis, Global Director, Brand & Creative Effectiveness at AB InBev revealed that Ab InBev has continued to embed creativity into the core of its business, and leveraged data and innovation to deliver creative business solutions that answer real needs, and drive consumer, community and commercial impact.
He said: “It is an entire culture that we built to try to make sure that creativity was not kept down, that we instead tried to elevate creativity. The first thing we did though that is easy to summarize is we decided that we needed to be more creative. We knew what we didn’t know, so we made a decision that we have to elevate our creativity.”
In March, Cannes Lions announced that it will honour AB InBev as this year’s Creative Marketer of the Year. According to Cannes Lions, the honorary accolade is presented to a marketer that has amassed a body of Lion-winning work over a sustained period of time, and has established a reputation for producing brave creative and innovative marketing solutions.
Also commenting on the award, Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “What we see time and again at Cannes Lions is that when brands unlock their creative capability and potential they drive real business growth. AB InBev has shown how creativity can be used as a lever to drive incredible success. Its belief in the power of creative culture and capability has resulted in a body of Lion-winning work and it’s a shining example of a brand that is leading the way in creative marketing. We are delighted to be recognising their sustained efforts by honouring them as our Creative Marketer of the Year.”
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