The Refrigerator Frame 

Budweiser had become one of the UK’s biggest-selling beers with incredible brand awareness. Yet, even loyal customers saw it as mainstream, American and mass-produced. To establish itself as culturally switched-on and urbane,  Budweiser partnered with Sir Peter Blake, creator of The Beatles’ iconic Sergeant Pepper cover and legend of British Pop Art, to revamp its red-and-white can.

Our brief was to amplify the partnership and position Budweiser as a culture-setting brand by driving conversation around the cans. Mindful of the fiercely competitive alcohol market, we needed something extra if we were going to capture public attention.

We built the world’s first “fridge frame” to hang the can in a “gallery” experience as a perfect work of art – while keeping it refreshingly chilled, as a perfect beer. “Gallery staff” opened the frame every hour to present one of 10 cans, hand-signed by Blake, to a queuing member of the public. The “exhibit” was supported by social campaigns and live activations to keep the buzz going.

The activation captured the public’s imagination, driving footfall of 2,000 people per hour and landing media placements with a 88M combined reach – including art/design magazines and key nationals. We saw a 22% uplift in sales vs. the regular cans previous year, a Paris gallery is now showing our installation and the cans are trading on eBay as collectors’ items.