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AB InBev outsources sports marketing to IMG

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By Seb Joseph, News editor

May 17, 2015 | 2 min read

AB InBev is outsourcing its sports marketing, tasking IMG as its agency of record after previously handling the duties itself.

The brewer uses Octagon to run its global activations in sport, a relationship that will reportedly be unaffected by IMG’s arrival.

The decision to brief out its sports marketing suggests AB InBev, which has rights to several global sports properties including the FIFA World Cup and UFC, wants to change how it leverages these platforms moving forward in line with the broader direction its marketing is moving.

Last year, it made the similar decision to hand over media planning and buying opportunities to MediaCom after previously splitting the responsibilities’ between itself for buying and Starcom for planning.

The business is making moves to sweat all parts of its marketing mix harder in a bid to build more loyalty and consequently sales in the fiercely competitive global beer category. This in turn has pushed the business to seek out better integration between its digital and experiential marketing.

Revenue for the brewer rose 6.2 per cent in the first quarter as Budweiser’s ongoing troubles in the US were offset by the company’s expanding footprint emerging markets.

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