Shohei Ohtani, the greatest player in baseball history, broke a Coors Light ad with a foul ball during a game, leaving a black square of dead pixels right on the can. Rather than fix the embarrassing flaw, Coors Light embraced it, turning it into an unofficial sports sponsorship that included a special edition can replicating the moment. With $0 in sponsorships or player endorsements, Coors Light was able to leverage the star power of one of the world’s most prominent athletes, breaking the mold of sports marketing with one broken ad.

Shohei Ohtani is one of the world’s most celebrated athletes and is widely considered by experts to be the greatest player in baseball history. Never before in the modern era of baseball has a professional player attempted pitching and hitting full-time, let alone succeed in doing so. Thanks to his unique skill, he is currently the highest-paid athlete in the world.

Over the past 30 years, Coors Light's biggest competitor had spent millions to insert itself into the identity of Major League Baseball and its fans. However, the sport itself is actually the perfect drinking occasion for Coors Light.

Baseball is a slow-paced game, and its spectators often suit the profile of the brand's primary target—those looking for moments to chill, unwind, and get together with close friends. Coors Light's challenge was connecting with this audience, who embodied the brand's values but were already spoken for.

The perfect moment arrived with one swing of a bat. During a game, Shohei Ohtani, the greatest player in baseball history, broke a Coors Light ad with a foul ball, leaving a black square of broken pixels right on the can. What Coors Light did in response captured the attention of baseball fans around the world.

Baseball fans are deeply attached to the game and its players, making memorabilia highly valued. They enable fans to make tangible connections to cherished moments, show their fandom and relive the excitement they experienced. With a newer generation of socially connected fans, viral moments can shape memorabilia. When the world started talking about Ohtani’s ad-breaking foul ball, the brand took it as an opportunity to get in on the conversation with their own collectible.

With little time to develop a robust media distribution plan, Coors Light selected high-impact placements to promote its special edition cans. As fans already followed the buzz across social media, the brand immediately shared its special edition can replicating the moment on Instagram X and Facebook, announcing it was available for purchase for a limited time. It also innovatively used its own existing media to create new ads for the campaign.

The black square on Coors Light’s broken ad went viral around the world, spreading videos and images of the embarrassing flaw worldwide. But instead of fixing it, the brand embraced it. With $0 in sponsorships or player endorsements Coors Light used the moment to create an unofficial sports sponsorship of the greatest player in baseball history, Shohei Ohtani.

48 hours after Shohei Ohtani broke Coors Light’s ad with a foul ball, the brand responded by launching special edition packaging that was an identical replica of Shohei’s broken ad. The packaging contained the same black square of dead pixels from the ad in the exact same spot on the can.

To promote the new cans, Coors Light added the black square to their own ads, “breaking” them to create an entirely new campaign from existing media placements. The campaign consisted of OOH, including local placements in the Anaheim area, and a full takeover of the screens inside Angel Stadium during Shohei’s first home game after breaking Coors Light’s ad. They also took to social with “broken” ads across all platforms that drove fans to an online store where they could buy the can and add it to their baseball collections.

The campaign went viral overnight. Initially launching in the U.S., Coors Lights Out became a global phenomenon on social media and generated media coverage in design, lifestyle, and sports outlets worldwide. Coors Light even trended higher than the official beer of baseball.

The special edition cans quickly sold out in under 24 hours. The demand was so high that fans added their own black squares to existing cans, merch, and anything else with the Coors Light logo. Even the broken panel itself became a piece of baseball memorabilia that was auctioned off to collectors for over $7,000.

Ohtani's fans in his home country were also eager to participate in the experience. So Coors Light made brand history by bringing its cans to Japan for the first time ever.