The greeting that made Budweiser’s “Whassup?” ad recognizable came from a short film made before the brewer’s agency saw it. The agency adapted that film for television and kept its director and most of its cast.
A short film
In the late 1990s Charles Stone III, an up-and-coming director who wanted to prove to Hollywood he could tell a story, made a short film called “True.” It starred Stone and several of his childhood friends, sitting around doing nothing much and calling each other on the phone. Their greeting was an elongated, open-mouthed “Whassup?” that each friend in turn picked up and yelled back.
Stone sent the film to short-film festivals. Copies circulated on VHS, and one reached Vinny Warren at DDB Chicago. Warren told MEL that the film had “no discernible joke,” yet people at the agency kept repeating the greeting to one another.
The pitch
Warren worked on the Budweiser account and could imagine the friends in the film holding beers. In his own account, he says he showed the film and his adaptation idea to his boss, Don Pogany, and then to the client team. That firsthand version gives the short film a clearer role in the campaign than a story that credits the greeting to the agency.
In October 1999, with Anheuser-Busch executives in Chicago for one night, Warren and the DDB team pitched it in a hotel bar. Warren says they had sold the idea before contacting Stone. Stone then agreed to direct the commercials. Most of his friends returned for the ads, though Warren says one role was recast.
On air
The first “Whassup?” spot aired during Monday Night Football on December 20, 1999. Anheuser-Busch produced dozens of ads before each Super Bowl and tested them for likability; “Whassup?” made the cut, and it aired during Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000.
Warren recalled people repeating the line after the Super Bowl and sharing imitations through email. His account describes a wide response, but it does not isolate how much beer the ad sold. That distinction matters when describing a campaign’s cultural reach.
Awards
“Whassup?” won a Cannes Lions Grand Prix for film and a Clio award. The campaign later entered the CLIO Hall of Fame. The awards recognize the advertising; they do not measure sales attributable to it.
Why it worked
- It kept the original friends. Warren says the TV adaptation retained most of Stone’s cast rather than substituting actors for the whole group.
- It added a beer reference. Warren says he wrote the reply about watching the game and having a Bud for the commercial version.
- The greeting traveled. Warren’s account describes people repeating it in person and forwarding imitations by email after the Super Bowl.
Sequels and revivals
Budweiser made further “Whassup?” spots, and the original run continued into 2002. In 2020 the company revisited the idea during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage people to contact friends and family. Its own announcement describes that revival as a public service message, separate from the original campaign.