Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser brand is aimed at young men between the ages of 18 and 24 (18 being the legal drinking age in the UK). Customers can accumulate Bud Bucks, which they can then trade in for trips to the US, sports tickets, or a Ford Mustang. Banners on YouTube and FHM point to the Bud Bucks website where users can enter codes on bottles of Bud, see how many Bucks they got, and then trade them for stuff.

The Bud Bucks site is currently live and the banners on YouTube and FHM are up. According to the website, the promotion will run through July. The creatives were built by UK agencies RKCR/Y&R and TangoZebra. The campaign includes a spot of a man trying to steal a bottle of Bud from a fridge guarded by lasers.

Last year, YouTube grew 606% in the UK, according to UK newspaper the Telegraph. Anheuser-Busch also plans to roll out the campaign on mobile websites and interactive television. The company said it will be focusing less on TV advertising and more on online to capture what they consider a tough-to-reach crowd.

Anheuser-Busch kicked off Bud.TV right after Super Bowl XLI on February 4th. The site features comedy videos and short films from Kevin Spacey’s Triggerstreet Productions and Matt Damon’s LivePlanet Productions, as well as NASCAR highlights, promotional clips for the FX network’s police drama “The Shield,” and user-created Bud Light commercials. However Bud.TV offers none of that content up-front. Visitors are greeted instead by an empty log-in screen that contains few details about the content within.

“The first week after Super Bowl, the site got an average of 20,000 visits a day, but only about 800 to 1,000 a day were registering–we think because of the registration process,” wrote Tony Ponturo, Anheuser-Busch’s VP of global media and sports marketing in an email to ZDNet. Other barriers to entry include the requirement that visitors verify they are of drinking age.

Bud.TV did see a rise in the number of registrations resulting from a banner ad campaign around President’s Day in February, according to Ponturo, but audience numbers flatlined at 15,000 per day in the site’s third week. Ponturo additionally noted that only about 1/3rd of them are registering.

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Bob Lachky, executive VP of Global Industry Development for Anheuser-Busch, said, “Here’s to Beer is a program dedicated to enhancing the image of beer. As times change and people explore new mediums to connect with friends, beer will be there to share in the experiences. Virtual social networking has become part of the daily routine of how contemporary adults communicate with each other. Supporting this niche social media outlet where people actively engage in sharing stories and images reinforces the honesty and authenticity of socializing over a beer.”

Anheuser-Busch, the leading American brewer tallying nearly 49% of US beer sales, has implemented Here’s to Beer in an effort to enhance the image of its chief beverage.

Gurbaksh Chahal, chairman and CEO BlueLithium , the ad network that conceived and built MingleNow, added, “MingleNow is fostering a sense of community with trendsetting adults. Here’s to Beer and ‘Clink’ create a unique environment where users can connect with people who share interests similar to their own.”

“We’re always looking for new opportunities to connect with adult consumers on a more personal level,” said August Busch IV, Anheuser-Busch Inc. president in a statement. “With adults spending more time online looking for entertainment to fit their lifestyles, we believe Bud.TV will enable us to reach them in an engaging and fun way.”

Bud.TV will have as many as 7 different channels, and will also feature a desktop client through which users can view full-screen DVD-quality video. The online network will also help producers showcase new material. On launch, Bud.TV will help market Wild West Picture Show’s documentary, “Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show.” It will also feature short films from Kevin Spacey’s Triggerstreet.com project and productions from LivePlanet, producers of the Project Greenlight film contest series.