BUDWEISER BUDVAR
Building a brand world for the national beer of the Czech Republic
With Untold Agency
A multi-year project of narrative strategy to translate the character of a proudly independent Czech brewery into a verbal and creative platform that could work across campaigns, content and film.
Budweiser Budvar was established as the UK’s biggest Czech beer thanks to the category-defining work Untold did as the brand’s global agency. Using that as a launchpad, we refined the core idea and tone from first line to final output, ensuring every element of every new piece of work reflected Budvar's heritage and wit, keeping it front and centre for lager drinkers in every part of the audience pyramid.
Where the brand voice meets the world
I took Budvar’s verbal identity off the page and into campaigns, content and everyday brand communications. A good TOV shouldn’t be stuck in a PDF – it should work across all touchpoints, creating a living, breathing brand world.
Great Beer. For Everyone – finding the untold stories in the Republic of Beer
Although the Czech beer industry was dominated by men, we noticed that women were becoming more visible at every stage from production to pouring. We set about making a film on location that allowed three women working in Czech beer – a brewer, a beertender and Budvar’s brand manager – and expanded it into a press/influencer trip and an activation. For one special evening in London we brought together the stars of the film and some of the UK’s most influential female beer figures for an evening of talks and Czech beer pairings.
The result: 4.17m cross-platform video views, 128m online reach, more than 50% film watch-through and 100+ media/influencer placements including Forbes, Stylist and Foodism.
From storyboard to screen – creating two new TV ads
Competition is always evolving, so messaging must too. Budvar faced two distinct challenges.
Problem 1: Most ‘world’ lagers – be they Spanish, American or Italian – are actually brewed in the UK. Budvar is only ever brewed in the Czech Republic. How do we show this to create trust and a sense of authenticity?
Problem 2: Craft beer is great, but its sheer breadth of choice creates decision overload. How do we present Budvar as the uncomplicated, refreshing, classic choice?
In response we created two TV ads. I wrote the narrative, scripting and storyboarding for broadcast across streaming platforms. I organised the shoots end-to-end, but more than that – I translated ideas into physical worlds, working with set designers and a director to create environments that brought the original stories to life. Ultimately, I ensured the narrative carried from the original proposals through to the screen.
FOaMO – a new expression of the brand
Aka ‘Fear of Missing Out (on real lager, properly poured)’. Like Guinness or Corona, Budvar has a distinctive serve: in short, lots of lovely foam. This can be challenging for UK drinkers, so we decided to turn a ‘fault’ into a virtue, and devised a social-first campaign around a core concept – FOaMO. This took shape in fun Reels, a social takeover, pouring activations and much-sought-after merch. The result: an immediate sales uplift, and improved education among UK drinkers on the merits of properly poured Czech lager.
