Michelob ULTRA believes that enjoyment contributes to success, not the other way around. As a brand we believe that you win because you are happy, not that you are happy because you win. As a brand with a long history in golf and our inherent brand positioning, it made sense for us to sponsor and activate around The Match – it was a golf event, rooted in fun with some of the most successful athletes in the world.

Prior to the Match, we welcomed the return of golf by deep-faking scenes from one of the most iconic golf movies in history – Caddyshack. We inserted our brand ambassador The Match participant, Peyton Manning into some of the funniest scenes from the movie to build anticipation and have some laughs ahead of the event. We also debuted our iconic Michelob ULTRA beer cart – something all golfers missed as a result of COVID restrictions and teased the potential that consumers could win it. We also debuted a merch collection inspired by the movie that we made available to consumers.

However, this event had added significance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been months since consumers had watched any type of live sports – in person or on TV. We saw this as an opportunity to showcase the joy we all felt and frankly needed in this moment. After almost three months in quarantine, The Match provided a way to deliver to fans what they were missing most – a moment of levity and a reason to smile. And as a brand that believes in the power of enjoyment, we saw an opportunity to bring back the joy.

Many other brands could have made an emotional film about the return of sports, but for us we wanted to champion the thing we all missed most – the fun and joy that comes with watching live sports.

On the day of broadcast, we hosted an 18-hole #ULTRAPrizeScramble on Twitter. Each hole, we debuted a new prize from Caddyshack merch to our iconic beer cart featured on our TV commercial were available for consumers who tweeted using our prize scramble hashtag. We drove additional eyeballs on the event through ULTRA influencers like pro golf Brooks Koepka, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady’s NFL teams and more. We used our TVC and broadcast integrations during The Match to drive consumers to Twitter as well, ultimately resulting in the #2 trending topic in the U.S. for the duration of The Match.

It turned out the joy wins at the end of the day as our brand ambassador Peyton Manning and his partner Tiger Woods brought home the win. Peyton had an ULTRA in hand as he enjoyed his win and the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised

“The Match” was the most watched Golf event in the history of cable television; its peak audience was 6.3 million viewers with an average of 5.8 million viewers, but more importantly, it gave Michelob ULTRA the opportunity to celebrate the joy of the return of sports. We helped solve the frustration and devastation COVID-19 brought to the world, even if just for a few hours. The return of sports and enjoyment of a beer was finally the escape viewers needed.

Results Included:

-A +11.5% sales increase on ULTRA family vs. LY as a result of The Match

-Held the #2 Trending-topic in the U.S. and #5 trending topic worldwide for 4+ hours during The Match as a result of the organic #ULTRAPrizeScramble shares (averaged 152 tweets per minute)

-102 million total impressions – second only to ULTRA’s Super Bowl campaign as the highest total of the year at the time.