Dreamcaster owes its innovativeness to A.I.; we used generative A.I. to transform the live sports experience for blind and visually impaired fans.

A groundbreaking technology allowed Cameron Black to understand and enjoy basketball like never before. And then, it empowered him to fulfill his dream of actually commentating a game to an audience of millions — becoming the first blind person to do it on TV.

This turned a high-stakes NBA Playoffs game into a branded experience for Michelob ULTRA.

And it kicked off a long-term commitment to making the joy of sports accessible to all.

As the brand that believes sports is only worth it if you enjoy it, Michelob ULTRA wants to ensure that the joy of sports is accessible to every fan too. Right now, the accessibility conversation largely focuses on athletes.

In addition to developing a technology and campaign that champions accessibility for blind and visually impaired fans, we ensured that our creative assets themselves were accessible to blind and visually impaired fans.

Each campaign element has been reviewed by the American Foundation for the Blind, and made accessible for the blind through audio descriptions. This includes all campaign deliverables: social ads, campaign videos, and mail assets.

The Background: Michelob ULTRA’s relevance in sports has helped us grow from the #5 domestic beer to #1 in the U.S. But with billions of marketing dollars spent each year, competition never ends in the beer category. You need to consistently strengthen your cultural relevance.

Our Objective: So, to continue growing our market share, we set out to address another pressing, hyper-relevant issue in sports culture: accessibility.

Our Brief: Since most people focus on the accessibility of playing, we championed the under-discussed accessibility of enjoying sports as a fan.

Michelob ULTRA expanded the cultural conversation about accessibility to include the accessibility of enjoying live sports; 284 million blind or visually impaired sports fans worldwide struggle to enjoy live games.

Blind and visually impaired fans can listen to commentary, but anyone who loves basketball knows the joy of the game goes beyond what you can hear.

If anything, the joy of being a basketball fan comes from truly feeling the game.

So we translated the action of a basketball game into a language that blind and visually impaired fans can feel, not just hear.

And we introduced the technology behind that translation to the broader NBA fan community.

Cameron Black was born blind. He writes about sports, but has always dreamed of becoming a TV commentator, in spite of his blindness.

So we made Cameron’s dream come true. We invented a groundbreaking, multisensorial technology that took the billions of data points in a basketball game, and instead of visualizing them, made them easier to follow via spatial sound and haptic touch.

With the help of basketball data inputs and generative A.I., he felt every gameplay moment and movement, informing his commentary as he became the first blind person to commentate a live NBA game on TV.

Our partnership with Cameron during the NBA Playoffs was the start of a larger commitment to accessibility.

Soon, Michelob ULTRA will make this technology available to fans in every NBA arena, with a mobile app that takes the same approach to translating data.

In a studio across the street from Madison Square Garden, we set up a multisensorial booth from which Cameron could commentate the game, 60 seconds ahead of broadcast.

This was made possible by a groundbreaking technology. First, using A.I.-powered braille, we put a world’s worth of basketball data at Cameron’s fingertips. Then, we used spatial sound to sonically place Cameron in the center of the court, so he could fully grasp every second of the game: the movement, the plays, and the speed.

And, in partnership with MSG Networks, Cameron’s historic moment aired on prime-time TV, for millions of people to see.

Dreamcaster quickly became Michelob ULTRA’s next cultural juggernaut.

Cameron’s historic data-driven broadcast notched the second-highest TV ratings of any program in its market that day, immediately captivating 10.4 million viewers.

And his data-driven commentary echoed throughout the most iconic arena in the world: Madison Square Garden. 21,000 fans and passersby outside witnessed sports history being made.

But the impact for Michelob ULTRA goes beyond a local gameday broadcast activation.

Within days of Dreamcaster going live, organic search volume for Michelob ULTRA jumped 55% and social conversation about Michelob ULTRA increased by 44%.

This initial barrage of excitement, both local and national, sets the stage for Michelob ULTRA’s long-term commitment to championing accessibility in sports culture.