After our work on Bud American Ale, Critical Mass got the opportunity to pitch for the redesign Budweiser.com. After a 2-phased process of elimination, we won. I was an art director on this project from pitch to launch.
Always evolving their branding strategy, Budweiser has recently turned away from “King of Beers” (at least in the USA) and opted for “The Great American Lager”. They want to focus more on “The Spirit of American Optimism”. In light of the current US economic reconfiguring, their focus is not unfounded.
As for our redesign strategy, we wanted to help elevate the Bud brand beyond where it was before. With focus on the beer itself and the American legacy it shoulders, we wanted to create an experience that celebrated the beer and all it stands for. Admittedly, before working on this project I had reservations about the quality of the actual beer. I reserved Bud for the “not if you were the last beer on Earth” category. However, after reading Ambitious Brew, I changed my perception and gained a respect and understanding for why Budweiser is the way it is. It’s creation was all very deliberate and timely and is, in fact, one of Anheuser Busch’s (now AB InBev) most expensive beers to brew. I also learned that Bud is best experienced if enjoyed very cold and in high volume.
Below are screen caps of the live solution for Budweiser.com. We wanted the experience to be rich and highly visual, while retaining easy usability.
Tags: beer, Budweiser, Carl Lukasewich, design, graphic design
