The Heart of a King: Rallying England behind the Lionesses

How can the American King of Beers authentically show support for the England women’s football team?

That was the question facing Budweiser in the run-up to this summer’s Women’s World Cup.

As the official beer of the Lionesses, with a mission to support the women’s game’s move into the mainstream, we targeted casual fans – who don’t follow the sport but enjoy the big cultural moment of a World Cup. Crucial to this was creating an emotional link between fans and team.

But as well as the tension between “King of Beers” and the Lionesses, we were sensitive to superficial “feminism-washing”, and wanted to celebrate the women’s game in its own right.

We recalled a precedent for reconciling “king” and being a strong woman: Elizabeth I’s legendary Tilbury speech and its immortal line, “I have the heart and stomach of a king.”

An epic rallying cry for England in the face of overwhelming odds, from a woman who ruled alone. It was perfect. We just needed to find the right voices to speak it.

Tournament preparation ruled out players. So we recruited a team of diverse, inspirational female talent. Between them were OBEs, eight gold medals, including two Olympic titles, three top-10 albums, a fashion label, and an Academy Award nomination.

Directed by the award-winning Laura Scrivano, talent defiantly addressed the camera, spliced with high-energy game footage, cut to a climactic edit of Make Way for the King, for an inspiring, emotive rallying call.

Results

A combined media reach of 223 million people.

59,000 engagements

Beat Facebook view-rate benchmark by 4.7 points

1.3 million 30-second YouTube views

98% positive sentiment – a 26-point positive shift on owned channels

£179,500 ROI

Independently assessed by Millward Brown as one of the tournament’s top-five performing pieces of brand content