The beer logo scooped a Gold at The Drum Awards for Marketing (Americas) 2025 for its Super Bowl spot with Matt Damon and David Beckham. The Drum stuck up with head of Stella Artois US Kevin Bell and Artists Equity’s Josh Jefferis to listen to what occurs when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck pitch you a Big Game spot.
At a time when beer manufacturers are grappling with moving consuming behavior and a loud advertising panorama, Stella Artois is doubling down on tradition, creativity and superstar collaboration in the United States, says head of Stella US at AB InBev, Kevin Bell, and Artists Equity president of promoting, Josh Jefferis. For Bell, the problem of promoting Stella Artois in 2025 isn’t with reference to slicing in the course of the noise – it’s about protecting beer culturally related in a global the place client personal tastes are repeatedly evolving.
“There are certainly some shifts in consumer preferences that are happening right now,” he mentioned, acknowledging the emerging hobby in low and no-alcohol choices. “But beer as a category is very resilient globally and in the US. Stella has been a staple in the industry here for quite some time and we’re just very excited to continue to be a brand that elevates occasions and really plays a big part in culture.”
Bell, who celebrated his 9th anniversary with AB InBev this week, takes a wide view of the emblem’s position available in the market: “I focus on marketing, but I also lead all the commercial initiatives – working with our sales teams on everything from the liquid and the packaging all the way to the advertising you see in the Super Bowl. I like to think of it as more general management than just brand management.”
And that’s the place a Hollywood-powered ingenious partnership is available in.
Want to head deeper? Ask The Drum
How Stella teamed up with Matt and Ben
Stella’s award-winning marketing campaign was once born out of a decade-long dating with Hollywood royalty Matt Damon, who first partnered with the AB Inbev-owned logo thru his charitable basis Water.org. It was once all over a prior marketing campaign in 2023, Bell recollects, that Damon discussed one thing intriguing.
“Matt was generous enough to be part of a program we had called ‘Let’s Do Dinner’ back in 2023,” mentioned Bell. “He happened to mention that he and Ben Affleck were starting an advertising agency within Artists Equity. They were working with Dunkin’ and said they were excited to maybe work with Stella because of Matt’s relationship.”
That dialog set in movement a unprecedented ingenious state of affairs – an company pitch that hit the mark from the first actual slide. “We were given the opportunity to brief the team and let them know the situation with Stella Artois in the US,” Bell mentioned. “They came with an amazing idea for a campaign. The first idea they brought to us became the Super Bowl spot. That just doesn’t happen.”
Inside Artists Equity: now not your conventional company
Founded by way of Good Will Hunting writers and actors Damon and Affleck in 2023, Artists Equity is greater than an advert company. It operates as an absolutely vertically built-in movie manufacturing studio with an promoting arm inquisitive about serving to manufacturers create culturally resonant paintings.
“Yes, we’re not your typical agency,” defined its president of promoting, Josh Jefferis. “We’re a film production studio with a slate of scripted and unscripted films every year. And then, as an ancillary business to that – a very important one – we have the advertising agency. We have two clients right now: Stella and Dunkin’. We want to help iconic brands like those take really big swings in culture and partner with them to do so.”
The trade type offers Artists Equity a cinematic edge. With A-list ingenious skill within the combine, each in the back of and in entrance of the digicam, they create a definite entertainment-first lens to logo storytelling.
Making ‘David & Dave’: a Super Bowl winner
That cinematic sensibility was once on complete show in Stella Artois’s David & Dave Super Bowl spot, which paired Matt Damon with English football legend David Beckham in a playful, self-aware advert that leaned into their public personas and friendship. But it was once what took place in the back of the scenes that left the private affect on Bell.
“I’ve been a fan of Ben and Matt for a very long time. David, I had met previously – he’d been working with Stella going back to 2024. But working with Ben, watching his creative process and watching him coach David, who hadn’t done much acting, to be a part of a Super Bowl commercial was just amazing to watch and be a part of,” Bell mentioned.
“Matt Damon was also helping David. Watching his process with Ben – they’ve worked together for so long – it was just a really amazing experience and very enlightening for me and the Stella team. Ben was coming into the video village, asking questions, making provocations. It was a great collaborative experience and you see the result of it in the work.”
Dunkin’ and Stella: two manufacturers, one cultural mindset
On the skin, Stella and Dunkin’ may just rarely be extra other – one an upscale European lager, the opposite a blue-collar American espresso chain. But for Artists Equity, each manufacturers proportion a an important not unusual thread.
“Actually, they’re quite similar,” mentioned Jefferis. “They don’t kind of take themselves too seriously, they’re part of culture. I don’t think there’s necessarily a house style or tone. The ability to have the intelligent wit of a Stella or maybe the more pushing-the-edge irreverence of Dunkin’ is a nice range for the team to flex their writing and creative skills.”
That flexibility has already paid off in accolades. At The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas 2025 in New York, Stella and Artists Equity gained the Advertising class for ‘David & Dave,’ whilst Dunkin’ took house the Food & Beverage award.
For Bell, that roughly popularity is ready celebrating collaboration and creativity: “I take advantage of every opportunity to work with those guys. This is easily the most fun part of the job and getting to celebrate that and win some awards with the team is amazing.”
For Stella, tradition is the tactic
As client tastes evolve and beer’s dominance is challenged by way of the entirety from onerous seltzers to sober-curious actions, Bell is making a bet on Stella’s talent to stick culturally related thru good, entertainment-driven storytelling. “We have a very long history being part of entertainment and culture,” he mentioned. “The ‘David and Dave’ campaign has really resonated with consumers and we’re looking forward to doing more of that. We’ll do our part to grow the category and get consumers more excited about beer.”
In a global the place each logo desires to be a part of the dialog, teaming up with Hollywood to script your Super Bowl second – and make it really feel like a scene from a film – may simply be the way in which ahead.