Creating a viral campaign with moments of nonsense and fun.

If you’ve come across the “Dilly Dilly” movement on social media recently, you can thank Bud Light for turning the phrase into a catch-cry for the end of 2017.

In a recent interview with Business Insider (see clip below) Anheuser-Busch InBev Chief Marketing Officer Miguel Patricio was asked about how they came-up with the whole “Dilly Dilly” idea. As Patricio tells-it, the spark came from a good old-fashioned hunch that surprising and delighting with nonsense and fun was a better indicator than market testing.

“‘Dilly Dilly’ doesn’t mean anything. That’s the beauty of it” Patricio says. “I think that we all need our moments of nonsense and fun. And I think that “Dilly Dilly,” in a way, represents that.”

“To tell you the truth, we never expected this to be so successful. It didn’t test that well. We did that ad, actually, because of – the new season of “Game of Thrones” coming, but when we tested, it didn’t test that well. We said, ‘Consumers will get it.’ And especially with repetition. We have a chance here for this to become big. So, we went against the research and we gave a chance to ‘Dilly Dilly’ and we are so happy!”

“I think that one of the proofs of success, nowadays, from a cultural standpoint, is when you go to Amazon and you don’t do anything, there are people already selling t-shirts. Two weeks ago, I went on Amazon. There were like ten different types of “Dilly Dilly” t-shirts. I said “Yes! That’s it!” It becomes a cultural currency.”

As the world of branding becomes more data-driven, we need to make sure we create the opportunities for the moments of nonsense and fun that Bud Light have so successfully tapped into. The more focused we become on honing-in on ‘what we know’, the more opportunity there will be for brands who make room for a little ‘what we feel’. Hats off the the Anheuser-Busch team and their agency Wieden+Kennedy for reminding us.

Dave Ansett
David is the founder of Truly Deeply, a brand agency with 25 years experience working with brands to position them for growth. His deep expertise is in the creation of high engagement brands that attract the attention of their audience and stand out from their competitors. David has extensive experience working with corporate, retail, food & beverage and entrepreneurial clients. Find out more here
For monthly updates of our thinking, click here to receive our free Brand Newsletter