They did what???

This past weekend was the Austin City Limits music festival. Yes, of course I went all three days! As an advertising student, embarrassingly enough, it was hard not to notice the vast amount of advertising all around Zilker Park. There were some very creative and seemingly successful products featured, however.

In past years, Heineken has always been the sole sponsor of ACL, even though their brand didn't necessarily fit in with the image. This year was a bit different! Budweiser Lite was EVERYWHERE and multiple beer brands were sold in the "bar stations" located around the park. Though their brand doesn't exactly fit the ACL image either, they did something smart in their promotions. Rather than excluding all others beers to be sold at the park and run the risk of making customers mad, they sold multiple types of beer and gave away free koozies that had the Bud logo all over it. In this way, Bud was able to sell all the different brands but cover up competitors' logos with their own. This strategy mirrors exactly what Sheiner Bock did last year. Since Heineken had taken full sponsorship of ACL, they weren't allowed to sell their beer but that didn't stop them from passing out free koozies shaped like beer cans. This way, it looked as if everyone was drinking Sheiner when really they were all drinking Heineken.

I guess it doesn't pay to sponsor an event if your brand will just be covered up by those smarter than you?