Our strategy was simple, we needed them to feel the same about the goodbye story, as they did about every other journey they’ve seen him on – aspirational and engaging.

We developed a clear narrative that embraced the change, reinforced the brand’s success and drove anticipation for the future, and then handed it directly to consumers and media. In a time of election brouhaha, economic crisis and hall of fame athlete retirement, Dos Equis dominated the national conversation with its own lighthearted news cycle. The story generated a media firestorm and got the story trending on Twitter and Facebook, sparking more than 1.5 million organic views of the TVC.

Forgoing a press release, we selected USA Today to break our story using a variety of assets including brand spokespeople, creative directors and visuals, and followed up with two other advance pieces in Mashable and AdAge to amplify across a range of verticals. From there we began proactive media relations, to ensure every relevant outlet across the country knew what was happening. Once the news was out we quickly activated paid channels through our agency partners to push the exclusive creating a media firestorm that saw the story trending on Twitter and Facebook, sparking more than 1.5 million organic views of the “Mission to Mars” TVC on YouTube.

To further the story the day after the story broke, we premiered “Mission to Mars” on TV during Kobe Bryant and LeBron James’ last NBA match-up, working to secure a live toss from the courtside reporters to the commercial.

In the 48-hours following the announcement Dos Equis dominated the news cycle. Highlights include:

• More than 3.5 billion earned media impressions via 1,700+ placements

o Placements include: Saturday Night Live, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Associated Press, GQ, TMZ, Mike & Mike, Access Hollywood, and CNN Money.

• Coverage in every major nationally circulated news outlet, across 50 states and three continents

• Following the launch Dos Equis posted the largest total Franchise growth for USA (+12.6%, +92K Cases); the brand’s largest for Lager since November 2014.

• The TODAY Show ran a three-minute segment, while all five anchors drank cold Dos on live TV; Good Morning America ran a simultaneous segment

• The Most Interesting Man was featured on the homepage of ESPN for 10 straight hours

• 8 total USA Today hits (2 print, 6 online)

• Story was organically trending on Facebook and Twitter

• More than 1.5 million organic YouTube views of TVC