Standing at 1,149 feet (350 meters), the STRAT is the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States. Formerly known as “the Stratosphere,” it's been a landmark on the Las Vegas skyline since 1996, and is visible from almost anywhere in the metropolitan area as well as from local flight paths.

As hundreds of thousands of fans arrived for Super Bowl LVIII, we welcomed them by transforming the similarly shaped STRAT into a towering Tequila Don Julio 1942 bottle, using projection mapping to make the brand the first thing people saw before joining the party.

SUPER BOWL

The Super Bowl is America’s most-celebrated annual sports event, and, per Ad Age, “is routinely the most-watched TV event of the year in the U.S.” With this year’s game played in Las Vegas, Nevada, between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, 330,000 football fans converged on the city for the “Big Game” weekend. The Super Bowl is also widely known for its outsized advertising, with brands paying upwards of $7,000,000 USD for 30-seconds of airtime.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas is the “Entertainment Capital of the World" and going big is critical when activating in the city, especially during an event like the Super Bowl. For Don Julio 1942—a brand synonymous with celebrations from everyday feats to lifetime milestones—the time and place were perfect to take the spotlight.

LUXURY TEQUILA

Tequila's popularity has been rising in the United States since the early 2000s, with the transformation of its image from a party drink to a refined, luxury spirit playing a major role in growth. 114 luxury tequila brand extensions have launched since 2020 (Nielsen), and in 2021, tequila surpassed whiskey in U.S. retail sales, making it the second best-selling spirit behind vodka (Statista). Don Julio is the leader in the category (NABCA) since 2012, and 1942 is the brand’s iconic luxury offering.

The combination of the three was the perfect blend for Don Julio to disrupt the traditional Super Bowl advertising landscape.

SITUATION

Since 2012, Don Julio's 1942 has stood as a celebration icon and the number one luxury tequila brand per the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. Facing a 25% surge in new entrants to the luxury tequila category and low household penetration, we had to make big bets to maintain our seat at the table.

BRIEF

Activate Don Julio during the highest visibility event in American advertising to reassert 1942’s reputation as the world’s leading luxury tequila.

OBJECTIVES

• Reinforce consumer recognition for an iconic brand asset, the iconic 1942 bottle, driving demand and sales through the weekend.

• Create a first-of-its-kind execution to drive national attention for Don Julio during a competitive advertising moment, especially for the alcohol industry.

BUZZ

• The STRAT activation lifted positive consumer awareness by +34% from February 8-12, putting the brand +106 net buzz points above all broadcast alcohol advertisers including beer brands who are major Super Bowl ad competitors*

• Don Julio saw the highest single day increase (Saturday to Super Bowl Sunday) of net buzz score against all beer Super Bowl broadcast advertisers (Budweiser, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra, Bud Light), jumping +68% versus -13% for beer overall*

*(YouGov)

MEDIA

• 35.4MM+ earned social impressions, reaching 22.1MM social accounts (+135% YoY)

• 470.9MM earned media impressions (+98.6% YoY)

SALES

• +96.7% growth in same week sales YoY, both on- and off-premise

• +62% YoY in bottle depletions—cases sold to retailers by a distributor—for February 2024

• +450% higher in sales with key local-market accounts (vs. the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix held three months earlier)

For the first time in its 28-year history, the STRAT was projection mapped, transforming the landmark into a towering Don Julio 1942 tequila bottle for the 2024 Super Bowl. The result? A spectacle that beat beer advertisers at their own game.

From Thursday, February 8th through Sunday’s Big Game, 63 projectors, mounted strategically from scaffolding in parking lots across Las Vegas, cast 1,890,000 lumens and reimagined the Las Vegas skyline.

Starting six months in advance, we combined Google Earth data with the 1942 bottle’s dimensions and rendered 3D mockups to visualize the out-of-home activation from different vantage points across the city using VR technology.

Municipal approvals were secured, and months were spent secretly optimizing the projections to ensure the best viewing experience from the Vegas Strip, stadium and airport, all to create a visual that would change the Super Bowl advertising game.