A tipple (or many) and a typewriter was a potent combination for some of history’s best known authors. William Faulkner enjoyed a whiskey while writing. Ernest Hemingway’s affection for booze was the thing of legend. Even Maya Angelou credited a little sherry with kickstarting her creativity.
Stuck writers have used all manner of inspiration, both natural and otherwise, to break the block. Interestingly, John Carpenter, creator of the legendary Halloween films, employed The King of Beers as his secret writing weapon of choice.
In the documentary ‘Halloween’: A Cut Above the Rest, Carpenter said about writing Halloween II: “What got me through writing that script was… Budweiser. Six-pack of beer a night, sitting in front of the typewriter saying, ‘What in the hell can I put down?’ I had no idea. We’re remaking the same film, only not as good.”
To celebrate the Halloween holiday, Brazilian agency Africa has latched on to Carpenter’s self-awareness and brutal honesty in a new spot that pays homage to the fact that Bud helped get him from a blank page to what he felt wasn’t exactly the best script in the series.
The 90-second spookfest connects to a scavenger hunt of sorts in Sao Paulo, where a special screening of the film at the famed Copan building takes place on Halloween night. To guarantee a ticket, people have to go to one of the city’s last remaining video rental stores and ask for the VHS tape (very ’80s of them).
While there is some debate as to where Halloween II fits in the series’ continuum (the original is still the best, let’s be honest), it’s interesting to see that all it took to scare the life out of people were some cold Buds.
CREDITS:
Title: King of Halloween
Client: AB Inbev
Product: Budweiser
Agency: Africa
CCO: Sergio Gordilho
ECD: Matias Menendez
Creative Directors: Fernando Marar / Rodrigo Barbosa
Creative team: Fillipi Almeida / Denilson SilvaÂ
Client Services: Carol Boccia / Heloisa Pupim / Francine Pellacani / Leticia Fiaschi / Mariana Marcao / Vinicius Lopes
Media: Rodrigo Famelli / Antonio Arbex / Bruna Morano / Leonardo Araujo / Fabio Vannucci
Planning:Â Jose Lucas / Julia Hodgkiss / Felipe Paku / Sabrina Teixeira
Agency Producers: Rodrigo Ferrari / Tais Olhiara / Karen Nakamura
Production Co.: Boiler Filmes
Director: VIRA-LATA
Assistant Director: Renata Borges
D.O.P.: Yuri Maranhao
Production Co./Art Director: Camila Kogut
Executive Producers: Gabriel Dagostini / Eduardo Lubiazi / Carolina Cherobim
Production Co./Client Services: Marcela Santos / Luisa Ferreira / Dayane Dantas
Production Coordinator: Stefanie Korb / Carolina Latorre
Film Production: Andrea Tomeleri
Editing: Giordano Maestrelli
Post-production Coordinator: Fezao Barbieri / Rafael Barao
Post-production: Clan VFX
Color Grading: Marla
Sound Design: Evil Twin Music
Sound Production: Andre Faria / Murilo Faria / Andre Namur / Jimmy Gressler
Sound/Client Services: Juliana Tangary / Juliana Nascimento
Sound Finishing: Andre Namur / Jimmy Gressler
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/for-halloween-budweiser-celebrates-its-little-known-link-to-john-carpenter/