USA & UK: Rainey Kelly has won the Bud Bucks promotion

Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R has won the launch activity for Budweiser's biggest UK promotion to date, Bud Bucks, Marketing Week published January 15. Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch is going to launch the scheme on February 1.

Rainey Kelly, which already handles the brewer's Budweiser sponsorship brief across Europe, was approached to pitch for the business against a number of undisclosed agencies at the end of last year.

It is not known how much the promotion is worth, although AB spends in the region of £9m across its Bud and Michelob Ultra brands, according to Nielsen Media Research figures.

The Bud Bucks promotion, which is expected to last for between six months and a year, will see codes appear on 400 million cans and bottles of Budweiser, which consumers will be able to text or input on the website budbucks.com.

It has attempted to avoid accusations that the promotion promotes or rewards excess drinking by making each code worth a random amount of Bud Bucks. Some auctions will be winnable by the lowest unique bid, rather than the highest bid.