Budweiser sparked conversations during the weekend of the 2016 Super Bowl — one of the biggest drinking occasions of the year — by releasing Simply Put, a candid responsible drinking spot starring British actress Helen Mirren. It was Anheuser-Busch's first Super Bowl commercial focused on preventing drunk driving since 2005 and was supported through a branded website that helped viewers find convenient, safe rides home, from ride-sharing services to taxis. The spot and accompanying campaign generated more than one billion media impressions with over 90% positive consumer sentiment.
Continuing the momentum of Simply Put, Budweiser launched Give A Damn, a partnership with ride-sharing app Lyft to distribute up to 6,000 safe rides in the United States each weekend from September to December 2016. The goal was to encourage a simple behavior change among consumers and create a habit of using safe rides to get home as an alternative to drunk driving. We piloted the program in New York, Illinois, Florida and Colorado, adding Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Massachusetts later. One day a week, consumers could receive a code from Budweiser's Facebook page to redeem for a 10 USD Lyft coupon. The coupon could be used between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. each night that weekend, the time period when drunk driving is most prevalent.
The response was overwhelming, especially during holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. The program's average redemption rate of 33%, bettered the 10% redemption rate for similar programs in the industry. Budweiser distributed more than 35,000 safe rides across those states in less than four months, and our hope is to scale the program in the coming year, expanding to even more locations to give drinkers more options to get home safely. Perhaps most notably, 49% of Millennials (ages 21-34) nationwide reported being aware about the Budweiser-Lyft partnership.