Baseball is so popular that in a recent survey, 22 million Americans admitted to taking a “sick day” to celebrate the season’s opening games. As the official beer of Major League Baseball, Anheuser-Busch saw a massive opportunity.

So its flagship brand, Budweiser, tapped into Americans’ love of baseball, rallying fans and beer drinkers to Make Opening Day a National Holiday. Just 100,000 petition signatures would deliver a White House response. Securing the “holiday” wasn’t the endgame – but Budweiser knew this stunt would energize and activate baseball nation.

The movement kicked off with charismatic Hall-of-Famer Ozzie Smith issuing a spirited call-to-action via cross-country media tour, complete with hometown signing rallies featuring the iconic Clydesdales. Fans were encouraged to visit Budweiser.com/OpeningDay for updates.

Promotional videos, local print ads, player/coach video vignettes and massive social media activation kept people talking about (and drinking) Budweiser, until Opening Day.

By all metrics, the campaign was a home run:

Business: Sales volume was up an impressive 46% versus the prior year’s Opening Day time period (March/April). Additionally, category share was up 4% during the campaign, and up 12% during Opening Week.

Brand: Brand health metrics rose for all consumers 21-65, specifically those 35+: high-quality brand +7.25%; traditions and heritage +4.35%; authentic brand +4.2%.

Campaign: Trended on Facebook within 6 hours; garnered more than 3 million video views; and drove nearly 1,000 earned media stories (including coverage in all 24 MLB markets), with 230 million+ media impressions.

The petition quickly garnered more than 100,000 signatures. The White House responded swiftly, and passionately, but acknowledged that Congress is responsible for declaring national holidays.