Dive Brief:
- Busch Beer created a jigsaw puzzle with a photo of its spokesperson Busch Guy and is running a contest to promote it, the company shared with Marketing Dive. The beer brand tweeted the announcement with, "An indoor activity could lead to amazing outdoor adventures!"
- The Anheuser-Busch brand is selling the 525-piece puzzles online for $30. Most of the puzzles feature the Busch Guy holding a classic can of Busch Light. Several, however, display a gold can instead.
- Fans that find the lucky golden can must complete their puzzle and share a photo on social media using the hashtags #BuschPuzzles and #Sweepstakes to win a $5,000 outdoor vacation. Additionally, Busch will donate $5 from each puzzle purchase to the National Forest Foundation tour guides affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dive Insight:
Busch Beer has increasingly used its lumberjack spokesperson in marketing sweepstakes over the past year, and in this latest effort, it ties the brand character into the jigsaw puzzle trend that's become popular with homebound consumers.
An indoor activity could lead to amazing outdoor adventures!
— Busch Beer (@BuschBeer) June 16, 2020
Buy a Busch Medallion puzzle today. If yours shows a Golden Can, you could win a $5,000 vacation to the Great Outdoors*! $5 per puzzle goes to the @NationalForests, max. $5,000. Claim yours: https://t.co/eOZhgRAcbQ pic.twitter.com/h2jtoBRRW3
Jigsaw puzzles have taken off as a popular pastime this year, as people stuck at home look for a variety of ways to entertain themselves and share their accomplishments with these analog games online. Consumers that buy and complete this puzzle will be staring at a Busch ad on their kitchen tables, making the puzzle a kind of in-home ad at a time when out-of-home (OOH) advertisements are less common due to many folks limiting outdoor time.
Busch Beer is having fun with this trend by creating a kind of golden ticket puzzle that harkens back to the classic film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," and tying it to a free vacation sweepstakes that may entice fans to purchase and complete the puzzle. At a time when many people are out of work and stuck at home, a free vacation to an outdoor location where social distancing is safe may be a compelling giveaway to encourage people to participate in the contest.
The move follows several recent activations on social media by the brand. Earlier in the pandemic, Busch Beer ran a social media contest for couples whose 2020 wedding plans were impacted by coronavirus-related shutdowns. Couples that had to change their wedding plans due to the pandemic could win a year's worth of beer by sharing a photo of themselves on Twitter or Instagram with the caption explaining how they still plan to celebrate with the hashtags #BuschWeddingGift and #Sweepstakes. These types of social media contests help the brand stay top-of-mind among consumers even as many celebrations have been canceled or postponed.
