Coming up on a year of limited social interactions and reasons to take a day off, Bud Light Seltzer, like other brands this spring, is encouraging people to take a little time for themselves with a new “Out of Office” variety pack of new drink flavors.
“Bud Light Seltzer is a brand that’s all about fun, but we don’t want to minimize the fact that this past year has been very trying for a lot of people,” said Conor Mason, senior director for Bud Light Seltzer. “The average American worker only uses 54% of their paid vacation days, according to Glassdoor, proving that Americans both want a break from the work-life cycle.”
The brand is launching the vacation-themed flavors, which including Mango Mai Tai, Watermelon Mojito and Strawberry Daiquiri, with a social campaign encouraging consumers to “#TasteTimeOff” and offering to pay consumers to take some time for themselves.
“We know vacations and time out of the office are a complete luxury for most working people,” Mason said. “We hope our #TasteTimeOff initiative provides hard seltzer fans both the encouragement they need to take a few days to themselves and a little bit of fun this spring season.”
For the promo, the brand is calling on consumers to share their funniest out-of-office email messages on a budlight.com/tastetimeoff website. The brand will award $1,000 weekly through April 28, and offer people a chance to win $25,000 on March 5, which is Employee Appreciation Day.
“Our relationship with our hard seltzer drinkers is driven by our ongoing engagement with them on social media,” Mason said. “There’s a relationship that develops between our marketing team and consumers, and my job is to make sure they are continually excited about the products and the marketing that the team is putting out. And I think now more than ever, consumers expect brands to do more than just advertise their product: they expect us to give something back to them.”
Since launching last year, Bud Light Seltzer has continually added to the brand’s flavor profile. In January, the brand launched Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade. That extension was also featured in a Super Bowl ad. Other extensions include Bud Light Seltzer Iced Tea and Bud Light Seltzer Platinum.
In a category that seems to find new entrants on a daily basis, Bud Light Seltzer will continue to offer seasonal flavors and line extensions as a way to keep consumers interested, Mason said.
“We’ve learned that the core of our seltzer segment consists of millennials that have come to know and love the variety and flavor offering that our brand continually delivers,” Mason said. “The Bud Light Seltzer name is now synonymous with a high-quality hard seltzer with the flavor offerings consumers want, and we’re leveraging that fan energy to fuel our efforts throughout 2021.”
