Budweiser vs. Heineken using Youtube as a "Secret Weapon"

Youtube has been considered as a “secret weapon” in the web 2.0 & social media era. However, until I had the “special” experience with Budweiser, Youtube was just one of the media channels to me where I saw funny videos and watched some music video.

In January, I received an email announcing a casting opportunity for an online reality show (named as “Budhouse”) sponsored by Budweiser. What happened was the film company in charge of making the show was looking for candidates from the 32 countries qualified for the World Cup 2010. Because I love soccer (football) and have played soccer (not professionally) since I started walking, I became very interested in the show and ended up applying for the cast. Things went pretty well actually... After I went through some application process, I even got a free trip to Hollywood for the final interview (free flight and hotel for three days). Even though I couldn’t make it to the final cast, it was a very special experience.



Besides the special journey to the “fancy” world, I managed to find an interesting thing in utilizing “Youtube” for marketing purpose thanks to this opportunity. When I was in the application process for the show, I wondered why the company spent so much money for just one marketing event. The thing is Budweiser paid for every single cost that took for the application process and living costs for the final 32 casts to live in South Africa during the World cup 2010 (30 days). I fully understand the World Cup is one of the biggest opportunities for companies around the world for their marketing campaigns. However, given the fact that the show was aired only through its Youtube channel, I doubted if it was that much worth.



I found another interesting Youtube video made by the Budweiser’s main competitor, Heineken. Heineken made a video showing a “funny” experiment with some Italian soccer fans. Although it did not deal with the World cup, its basic concept was the same as Budhouse, Soccer Fever. The result was fascinating! The video has been viewed by more than 5 million people in two weeks and created great viral among online and offline communities.

In fact, Heineken’s “Italy Activation Milan AC Real Madrid” and Budhouse took a little different approach for promotion- Heineken showed the content to the public through both TV and Youtube while Budweiser put short commercials on TV and aired the show only through Youtube. However, both have taken advantages of Youtube in a smart and unique way for developing more effective and efficient marketing and they have seen great success.

Below are a couple of advantages that I think Youtube provides to us:

1. A Youtube video can have an online presence forever unless Youtube is shut down or the video is taken down.
2. The video could have great chances to be spread among millions of online users quickly.
3. It could bring in trimendous (positive) marketing effects with low costs.

For example, even though their “official” campaign seasons were already over – Budhouse for the World Cup 2010 and Heineken for the Champions’ League – those videos are still viewed by many people around the world who look for interesting video related to beer and soccer. Considering the amount of money that those two companies pay for a TV advertisement to keep their brand awareness and spread words, a “creative” and “funny” Youtube video can be a “golden goose” that brings in “golden eggs” with low investments.

I think the Heineken’s “Italy Activation Milan AC Real Madrid” and Budweiser’s “Budhouse” are great examples showing how we could use Youtube for self-marketing, corporate-marketing, branding, small business marketing, etc. We have seen many companies spending lots of money on putting ads on Youtube (like Google Adwords) to direct those people to their video materials. However, I believe ultimate strategies/tactics for Youtube marketing should be focused on producing funny and creative contents that provide “fun” and “special” experience to Youtube watchers rather than looking for ways to direct traffics to contents using Youtube ads or some “SEO” skills.