First there was the “Red Light.” Then the “Red Light District,” “Red Zeppelin” and the “Red Light Net.” Since 2013, Budweiser Canada has introduced a parade of spins on its wifi enabled replica hockey goal lights. It even has a “Goal Lab” think tank it uses to come up with new Red Light ideas.
For hockey season this year, the beer brand has gone small scale: it’s putting its Red Light technology in the bottom of a beer glass. Last week, Budweiser Canada started promoting its “goal-synced” glasses, which light up each time its user’s preferred team scores a goal, just like previous incarnations of the “Red Light.”
The company and its Red Light tech partner, Buzz Products, previously created pint glasses and pitchers that light up as part of an in-bar promotion, but, according to Budweiser Canada’s director of marketing, Andrew Oosterhuis, that iteration required a large connected control box that had to be kept behind the bar. The new glasses connect to a consumer’s smartphone instead, allowing the brand to bring the idea to life inside their customers’ living rooms.
The light up glasses are the latest step in Budweiser’s ambitious goal of “lighting up the world” on behalf of Canada. The initiative also marks the mid-way point of the brand’s first year-long hockey-fueled campaign. During the most recent Super Bowl, Budweiser aired a spot by its creative AOR, Anomaly, showing a massive Red Light being hauled across the tundra by a semi truck. As hockey season nears, the brand is now picking up on that storyline.
After a cross-country tour saw 20,000 Canadians sign up to have their name etched into the super-sized Red Light (including a notable first entry: Wayne Gretzky), the light has reached its final destination – Grise Fiord, Nunavut, a town nicknamed the “top of the world.” A 15-second spot showing the light’s final stop before boarding a ship to Grise Fiord was released in unison with the Red Light glass.
The ad is currently running in high frequency on broadcast, with a focus on hockey programming. It is also running on YouTube pre-roll and as paid media on other social media sites. UM handled the media buy.
The consumers who signed up to have their name etched into the light received notice last week that they’re eligible to receive one of the glasses free of charge. While Budweiser sells the original Red Light as a cost recovery measure (with shipping, they come to about $200), the light up glasses are now available as a gift with purchase with cases of Budweiser. And this time around, the brand is flooding the market – Budweiser is giving away half a million glasses.
The idea, Oosterhuis said, is to have the lights glowing in as many homes as possible on game nights, literally lighting up the country as the brand alluded during the Super Bowl.
The Red Light campaign has snowballed into a blockbuster, years-long effort for Budweiser. According to Oosterhuis, Canadians have spent $8 million on Red Lights over the last three years. The lights and associated marketing efforts have also helped revitalize the brand and strengthen its associations to hockey. Because of the runaway success, Oosterhuis said he sees a long future for the lights.
“The Red Light has become almost an icon in Canada for the brand, as much as the bow-tie and other icons like the script for Budweiser. It’s synonymous now,” he said. “Regardless of where our hockey creative goes in the future, I think the Red Light will always have a role.”
