Budweiser

The Bigger Picture

The Brief

Since 1984, Budweiser has been a staple of the Super Bowl. Their commercials have become cultural events—funny, emotional, iconic. But in 2021, as the country faced a historic health crisis, Budweiser asked a different question: What if we used our media dollars for something bigger than beer?

The Idea

Instead of airing a Super Bowl ad, Budweiser stepped out of the spotlight. Budweiser reallocated the $5.5 million ad buy to support COVID-19 vaccine awareness, partnering with the Ad Council and the COVID Collaborative to help America get back to normal.

It was a bold move—one that flipped the script on decades of tradition and used Budweiser’s voice for public good.

What we did

We developed and pitched a new kind of Super Bowl story. One without a commercial, but with a clear message: the best way to show up this year was to stand behind the scenes.

• Partnered with national health campaigns to amplify vaccine education

• Released a powerful film sharing stories of resilience and frontline impact

• Created a press and social media rollout timed with the Super Bowl weekend

• Let the absence speak for itself—and sparked one of the biggest conversations of the game

The Impact

By choosing not to run an ad, Budweiser made headlines across the country—and around the world.

• 32.1 billion PR impressions

• $175 million in earned media

• 6,000+ broadcast segments and 12,000+ media articles

• Featured by CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Vogue, GMA, Ad Age, and more

• Named one of the most impactful moves in Super Bowl advertising history by Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and Cosmopolitan

All of this, without a single second of airtime.

More importantly, Budweiser used its platform to support a healthier future—reminding people that sometimes, the most powerful message is the one you don’t deliver.