Budweiser release “playable” vinyl beer coasters for music fans
By Jess Gaynor on Monday, April 3, 2023
Brewing company, Budweiser, supports local underground artists with new drinks coaster campaign
Drawing inspiration from the underground music scene in Brazil, Budweiser have decided to release “playable” vinyl beer coasters for music fans. The company also found that vinyl has recently overtaken games as the world’s best-selling physical media format.
Created by Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo, the campaign shares the message that “The stage is yours to take.”
Each vinyl coaster is roughly the size of a traditional cardboard coaster and works on most record players. They will be available throughout bars in São Paulo and Curitiba, Brazil.
The promotion features nine artists, including Aori, Kamau, Stefanie, Estudante, Monna Brutal & MCharles, Negra Rê, Akira and Zudizilla. These tracks were recorded by Bob G at the Vinyl Lab studio and can be listened to either via a record player or by scanning the Spotify Codes printed on the vinyl coasters.
Alexandre Giampaoli and Humberto Cunha, creative directors at W+K said:
“Underground artists need to do the best with whatever space they have: wheatpaste posters, an alley, a subway station—every inch matters. At the same time, Budweiser has thousands and thousands of media spaces that could be put to a better use. Coasters are a great example. Plus, we heard that vinyl has overtaken games as the world’s best-selling physical media format. So, we took an often overlooked bar artifact and turned it into a stage. Thousands of them. All over the country.
“Budweiser challenged us to do what they always do in a way they have never done before: to stage up-and-coming artists in a disruptive and never-before-seen way,” the pair tells Muse. “It took us and our vendors quite some time to develop a product that was, at the same time, small enough to work and resemble a beer coaster and big enough to fit a whole song—while being able to be played in any turntable.”
