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Sam Adams, Budweiser Join Krispy Kreme in Branded Vaccine Promo Trend

If red, white, and blue-blooded beer brands feel comfortable putting out vaccine PSAs...why don’t more brands go all-in? 
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Francis Scialabba

· 3 min read

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Last month, Emory University marketing professor David Schweidel told us how a vaccine card promo (Krispy Kreme’s doughnuts-for-jabs offer) could hurt brand trust more than help it if much of your “customer base has political views against vaccination.”

Since then, however, some Very American Brands™️ with large, diverse audiences (not to mention ad budgets) haven’t seemed worried about alienating anti-vaxxers: Budweiser and Sam Adams rolled out branded “vaccine awareness” content last week. Color us intrigued.

And it just might work: Data shop Gravy Analytics analyzed foot traffic in US Krispy Kreme stores, reporting a jump of 19.81% from February to March. While correlation doesn’t equal causation, it’s not hard to imagine folks rewarding themselves with a post-vaccine doughnut.

Data like that, plus wanting to participate in the Everyone Gets a Vaccine™️ game show, could partially explain why these beer brands rolled out vaccine awareness promos last week—just in time for National Beer Day on April 7.

Budweiser: The Ad Council-backed ad shows pre-Covid images of people drinking Budweiser slideshow-style as Jimmy Durante’s song “I’ll Be Seeing You” plays in the background.

Sam Adams: “Your cousin from Boston” returns in this vaccine awareness spot by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, per Ad Age. He gets the shot, passes out, has a vision of drinking Sam Adams indoors, then wakes up as the nurse reminds him he still has to wear a mask. We’ve come a long way since “Sex for Sam.”

Zoom out

So if red, white, and blue-blooded beer brands with audiences across the political spectrum feel comfortable putting out vaccine PSAs...why don’t more brands go all-in?

  • “For those brands that aren’t messaging around vaccinations…if they can make a link to consumers that is visceral and will resonate, it may not come across as authentic,” Professor Schweidel told Marketing Brew.
  • Regarding vaccine messaging, Schweidel thinks brands are running a certain calculus here. “How many new customers will I gain, and how many do I put at risk?” he specified.
  • “And, if the answer isn’t clear, they’re opting to avoid becoming part of the conversation,” Schweidel concluded.

My takeaway: In 2020, brands grew comfortable drawing sociopolitical lines in the sand, hoping firm stances would help, not hurt, brand loyalty. So when it comes to vaccine roll-out, brands are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. — PB

Get marketing news you'll actually want to read

Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.