MAM
Budweiser crashes into New Line Cinemas film in the US
MUMBAI: US beer brand Budweiser is crashing into the upcoming, film from New Line Cinema, Wedding Crashers.
The film stars Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Christopher Walken. The company has launched a partnership that supports the film’s 15 July release in the US.
The partnership includes two television ads, sponsorship of the film’s New York City premiere and retail promotions and local screenings taking place in 30 cities across the US. Budweiser will also offer exclusive Internet content on Budweiser.com.
Budweiser’s TV ads supporting Wedding Crashers will air from 5 July. The original commercials, directed by Wedding Crashers’ director David Dobkin Shanghai Knights feature highlights from the film. In Ladies Beware a group of women are in training to recognie wedding crashers and deal with their propositions. An older brother prepares his younger brother for the art of wedding crashing in Get Ready.
Additionally Americans will have the opportunity to cast themselves into the spotlight at Budweiser.com through New Line’s Crash the Trailer. This is an interactive editing studio that allows visitors to place themselves in scenes from the movie trailer. The edited trailer can then be saved and e-mailed to fellow “Crashers” around the world. Budweiser.com also will feature film outtakes, the Wedding Crashers soundtrack and a humorous Wedding Crashers pick-up line generator.
Anheuser-Busch vP, creative development Jim Schumacker says, “Wedding Crashers is a perfect fit with Budweiser. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn’s characters could be taken straight from a Budweiser commercial. Budweiser is known throughout the world as a fun brand and many of our adult consumers will be big fans of Wedding Crashers. The ads, as well as our expanded Internet presence, are going to add to the tremendous buzz this movie is generating.”
New Line Cinema senior VP national promotions Lance Still says, “We think that the Budweiser programme and the commercials especially will stick in the mind of the moviegoer. The ads are true to the style of the film while maintaining the humor and irreverence that consumers have come to expect from a Budweiser commercial.”
Anheuser-Busch states that its products have been placed in more than 5,000 film and television environments, from Oscar winners like Forrest Gump and Silence Of the Lambs to blockbuster crowd pleasers like Batman Begins, Spider Man, Oceans Eleven and Terminator 3.
Wedding Crashers stars Vaughn and Wilson as divorce mediators and lifelong friends who have never met a wedding they couldn’t get themselves into. Guided by a secret set of wedding crashing ‘rules’ the pair find their way into a different wedding and different bridesmaid’s heart every week. But when they crash the social event of the season, one of them falls for the engaged daughter (Rachel McAdams) of an influential and eccentric politician (Christopher Walken) and decides to break the ‘rules’in pursuit of her. This leads to a wild weekend at her family’s palatial estate where the ultimate “Crashers” quickly find themselves in way over their heads
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
