AB InBev named creative marketer of the year at Cannes Lions

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian brewing giant and the parent company of South Korea’s largest beer manufacturer Oriental Brewery, said Wednesday that it has won the creative marketer of the year award at the Cannes Lions 2022.

Cannes Lions is the world’s largest advertising awards festival. Since 1992, the top honor has been awarded to companies as prominent as Apple, Coca Cola, Google, Samsung Electronics and Microsoft, for demonstrating creative excellence.

This year, the honor goes to AB InBev for having amassed a total of 40 awards over the past two years, including two Grands Prix.

The company credited its in-house creativity agency, Draftline, for staying on top of the fast-moving trends in digital content and stretching its marketing solution service to countries as diverse as the US, Australia, Colombia, and South Korea.

The use of cutting-edge technology also proved to be effective. Budweiser, one of AB InBev‘s beer brands, issued a non-fungible token collection that features 1,936 one-of-a-kind digital designs of beer cans. The collection sold out in an hour.

“AB InBev has leveraged breakthrough technologies to revamp marketing strategies in an effort to deliver the best consumer experience. This award recognizes the concerted efforts of AB InBev and our global partners,” said Alexander Lambrecht, chief marketing officer of AB InBev Korea. He added, “We will continue to deliver unique innovations in marketing that places emphasis on our consumers both here in Korea and beyond.”

By Ahn Ju-hee (dianahn@heraldcorp.com)