Mar 22, 2023
AB InBev is launching an entertainment division with help from Oscar®-Winning producer Michael Sugar in a push to reach consumers who don’t watch ads.
Anheuser-Busch is building an entertainment division, Insider has learned, the latest big marketer to turn to Hollywood to reach consumers who are increasingly glued to ad-free streaming services.
The AB InBev effort is under a new, unannounced entity called draftLine Entertainment, a part of its internal ad agency, draftLine. DraftLine Entertainment is being run by AB InBev marketer Lauren Denowitz as global studio head, reporting to VP Fábio Baracho. Denowitz has spent the past six years at AB, most recently as head of marketing for Stella Artois US.
"My goal is to help AB unlock growth via entertainment by reimagining what brand storytelling could look like if unbound by seconds-long interruptive ads, and determine the shape of what lies at the intersection of beer x culture x storytelling," Denowitz wrote in a LinkedIn post.
AB InBev is working with Sugar23 — the production company headed by Michael Sugar, best known for the Oscar®-winning "Spotlight" — to develop a slate of Films, TV shows, and podcasts it could eventually sell to streaming companies or other distributors. It's also enlisted branded entertainment pioneer Jae Goodman, founder of the creative agency Observatory, who helped Nike create its studio arm Waffle Iron Entertainment.