Fred & Farid Shanghai launch “Barely Noticeable Promotions” for Budweiser China

Budweiser China has launched a new campaign that turns a subtle packaging tweak into an interactive consumer experience. Titled “Barely Noticeable Promotions,” the campaign spotlights a deeper red shade on the brand’s packaging, brought to life through discovery led street marketing that challenges conventional tactics in China’s competitive beverage market.

Created by Fred & Farid Shanghai, the campaign places NFC-enabled posters near convenience stores and retail locations across major Chinese cities. These posters use a sophisticated layering technique that places the new red design over existing brand visuals, creating hidden promotional elements visible only upon closer inspection. Consumers who notice the difference can tap their smartphones to unlock rewards, including discount vouchers and free Budweiser products featuring the updated packaging.

“We didn’t overstate the change, it’s just slightly redder,” said Feng Huang, President and Executive Creative Director at Fred & Farid Shanghai. “But by hiding that change in plain sight, we gave people a reason to really look and once they found it, they couldn’t stop seeing it.”

The “Barely Noticeable Promotions” campaign delivered impressive results: generating 3.67 million impressions during the campaign, achieving an increase of 32% awareness rate among beer drinkers for the packaging change, and grew in-store sales by 43% compared to May 2024.

This strategic approach offers a deliberate counterpoint to China’s promotional landscape, where brands compete for attention through increasingly loud and elaborate marketing tactics. Instead of announcing the packaging redesign through traditional advertising channels, Budweiser positioned the subtle change as a discovery opportunity, encouraging consumers to actively engage with the brand rather than passively receive marketing messages.

The campaign’s technical execution integrates seamlessly with China’s mobile-first consumer behavior. The NFC technology enables instant reward redemption, while the visual puzzle element encourages social sharing across WeChat and Xiaohongshu. Early consumer response shows strong engagement with the discovery mechanism, with users photographing and sharing their findings as social currency.

The “Barely Noticeable Promotions” campaign demonstrates how subtle design changes can drive significant consumer engagement when paired with thoughtful execution and strategic positioning. In an industry often dominated by dramatic rebrands and flashy launches, Budweiser offers a refreshing alternative that emphasizes consumer discovery rather than brand declaration.

Credits
Agency: Fred & Farid Shanghai
Chief creative officers: Fred & Farid
Brand Supervisors: Alice Zhang, Yuki Wang, Ron Zhao
Executive creative director: Feng Huang
Group creative director: Adrien Goris
Group head: Meng Chen
Art director: Tang Xi
Agency supervisors: Paul Lin, Hanzhen Lin
Executive producer: Caroline Wei
Producer: Huang Tao
DOP: YANG
B-roll Photographer：Shiqi Zhang
Photographer: Vane Lu
H&MU: Esa
Casting: Karl
Offline Editor: Xiaoyu Wang
Motion Studio: Sixamstudio
Colorist: Cameron
Online: Wen, Tao Liu, Rongchao Jia