Honouring everyday heroes for Labor Day

Services

Campaigns
Copywriting
Packaging
Websites
Art Direction
Motion Design

We collaborated with Budweiser to create a limited-edition can for its 2021 Labor Day #RaiseABud campaign, celebrating hardworking Americans across the country.

The campaign invited Budweiser drinkers to nominate a friend, family member or colleague by sharing their story on social media, shining a spotlight on the people who keep America moving.

At a time shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project set out to honour resilience, contribution and pride in work, while reinforcing Budweiser’s long-standing commitment to championing the people behind the brand and the nation it represents.

Budweiser Raise a Bud packaging design with personalised Labor Day cans and bespoke typography

Strategy

To inform the creative process, we defined three key tenets that underpin the Budweiser consumer, using the phrase Blood, Sweat and Beers as inspiration. ‘Blood’ reflected the importance of family, home and heritage, values shared by Budweiser as a proud legacy brand. ‘Sweat’ acknowledged essential workers and the vulnerability of labour during the pandemic. ‘Beers’ celebrated the workers who drive the brewing industry forward.

Budweiser Raise a Bud packaging design with reworked medallion insignia and custom beer glass

PACKAGING

At the heart of the campaign was a personalised Labor Day Budweiser can, created to honour individual workers. We adapted the iconic Budweiser design with subtle yet meaningful changes, including a reworked insignia designed to resemble a medallion and a custom beer glass illustration. The design centred on the winner’s name, introduced by bespoke typography inspired by the late 19th century era of the first Labor Day, reading ‘This Bud’s For You’.

Budweiser Raise a Bud packaging design personalised can close-up with custom name

Campaign

The limited-edition can became the focal point of a wider social-led campaign. Budweiser drinkers were asked to nominate a hardworking American by posting their story online, with selected finalists rewarded with personalised cans featuring their names. One overall winner received three months’ worth of wages paid by Budweiser, turning recognition into tangible support.

Budweiser Raise a Bud digital campaign poster with medallion design motif

500K

impressions

The campaign aimed to generate quality nominations via social media in order to shine a light on some of the amazing stories of dedicated workers from all over America. The campaign which ran over Labour Day weekend racked up over 500k impressions and over 200 submissions.

Budweiser Raise a Bud personalised Labor Day can with worker's name in hero position

Budweiser Raise a Bud commemorative can detail showing bespoke medallion packaging design

Budweiser Raise a Bud campaign social media imagery

“At Budweiser, a big part of what we do is to champion American spirit and ordinary people doing extraordinary things. We feel the campaign Deuce delivered does exactly that. We were really happy with the way Deuce handled every part of the project and delivered a campaign that hit all of our deliverables and objectives.”

Jake Vizek

Senior Brand Director

Budweiser Raise a Bud campaign landing page design

Budweiser Raise a Bud can design celebrating an American essential worker

Budweiser Raise a Bud limited-edition can honouring a nominated worker

Budweiser Raise a Bud campaign packaging with 19th-century inspired typography

Collateral

To extend the experience beyond social, we created a dedicated website that brought the campaign to life in more depth. The site featured nominated workers’ stories alongside the history of Labor Day and its impact on American workers, reinforcing Budweiser’s values of authenticity and patriotism while celebrating ordinary people doing extraordinary things.