Bud Light
A breakthrough innovation strategy to break an iconic brand out of the beer category.
In 2019, the hard seltzer category exploded — redefining the needs of consumers interested in alcoholic light beverages. Bud Light sought to better understand these shifting customer expectations, overhaul their brand and portfolio architecture, and create an innovation pipeline to capture customers today with their own answers to upcoming trends.
Design To Sell Strategy
One of the hardest things to do is keep a c-suite executive engaged in a PowerPoint presentation. Although I was working at a strategic organization, I insisted that our deliverables were visually engaging and communicative of our key points. For Bud Light, it started with a segmentation which included personas and occasions. We visualized this strategy output to encapsulate the energy the team had for changing the innovation landscape.
Innovation Visualized
With a clear strategy in hand, the team and I delved into customer needs to create innovative new products that still fit within the Bud Light brand. Dozens of ideas made it through customer testing and many were put into the development pipeline. I pushed our design team to consider how the product would be marketed across channels, even as we were developing ideas.
Simple Didn't Sell
Bud Light was shedding its simplicity messaging for a more maximal approach. We helped push them out of their comfort zone with Punch Bowl. Demonstrating a unique new package and how it could come to life in a massive launch campaign. With a clever tagline, "Pick up the party", ideas included literally elevating the package and emphasizing the portability of the product.
