Lager lovers and the Cannes Film Festival may sound like a mismatch, but don’t tell that to AB InBev, the marketers of Belgian brew Stella Artois. The beer maker has been talking to the trade press about the launch in recent days of its largest ever social media campaign featuring a big splash on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr. It will also recruit a selection of bloggers to regale us about their fabulous experience along the Côte d’Azur as they hobnob (or at least get close enough to them to Tweet about it) with the movers and shakers of the silver screen.

The campaign is centered around the brew, Stella Artois 4%, in connection with Stella’s sponsorship of the Cannes Film Festival. The beer maker is also dangling a trip to one fan to attend the film festival. On its Facebook fan page, home to 196,000 fans, Stella weaves a tale of a fictionalized character, Jacques d’Azur, lost at sea, in the hopes of getting us into the spirit of a getaway for us – a weekend of sun, fun and glamour on the French Riviera. (After this winter, there’s bound to be plenty of takers.) It also uses the Stella Artois Twitter feed to pump out cryptic updates of Jacques.
Alexander Lambrecht, global marketing manager at Stella Artois told Marketing:

“New media is changing the way consumers discover, create and share information… Stella Artois is a brand with global distinction and in order to continue that recognition, we too have to change how we connect with Stella Artois enthusiasts all over the world – and the Web.”

Will beer marketing ever be the same?