Most brands advertise alongside films and shows.

Michelob ULTRA put their message about accessibility — every sports fan should be able to fully enjoy live sports — at the heart of a film itself.

Our film chronicles the journey of Cameron Black, a blind sportswriter who’d always dreamed of becoming a sports commentator on TV. With the help of our proprietary Dreamcaster technology, Cameron’s dream becomes a reality on live TV during the NBA playoffs.

Our film ran in theaters and on TV, kicking off Michelob ULTRA’s long-term commitment to making the joy of sports accessible to all.

In a sign of social progress, the world of sports is beginning to talk more about accessibility. But this progress seems to apply mostly to accessibility for athletes. Accessibility for fans doesn’t get as much attention.

So as the brand that believes watching AND playing 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.

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 Situation

Michelob ULTRA believes you should be able to be physically active AND enjoy a low-calorie beer afterward.

Our brand platform, “It’s Only Worth It If You Enjoy It,” has brought this belief to life in groundbreaking and culturally relevant ways over the last few years, addressing issues such as burnout, fans being shut out of games during COVID lockdowns, and more. Our 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.

The Objective

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

The Brief

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

The NBA brings joy to billions. Yet this joy isn’t equally accessible to all. So, as a brand that believes “It’s Only Worth It If You Enjoy It,” Michelob ULTRA expanded the cultural conversation about accessibility to include the accessibility of enjoying live sports.

Problem: 284 million blind or visually impaired sports fans worldwide struggle to enjoy live games. They can listen to commentary, but anyone who loves basketball knows that the joy of the game goes beyond what you can hear.

Insight: The joy of being a basketball fan comes from truly feeling the game.

Strategy: Translate the action of a basketball game into a language that blind and visually impaired fans can feel, not just hear.

Community-Building Approach: Introduce our technology to the NBA fan community and make accessibility more salient with them.

Dreamcaster captures Cameron Black’s journey from being a blind local sportswriter to becoming the first blind person in history to commentate an NBA game on live TV.

Our film starts in Cameron’s hometown of Kansas City. He writes for local online sports publications, but he yearns for a bigger stage: actually commentating live sports on TV. There’s just one problem. He’s blind.

So we invented a proprietary technology that uses generative A.I., haptics, and spatial sound to fully immerse Cameron in live games, giving him a deeper understanding of the action.

We follow Cameron through the ups and downs of training with this unprecedented technology, working to realize his dream of becoming a live sports commentator on TV.

Finally, we make his dream come true. Using our technology, he commentates a live NBA playoff game on TV, becoming the first blind person to ever do it.

Instead of advertising alongside entertainment properties, Dreamcaster put our brand at the heart of an entertainment property itself.

Our heartwarming story about Cameron Black becoming the first blind basketball commentator was crafted to be a program on TV or in a theater. This documentary with Michelob ULTRA at its core ran on MSG Networks and in theaters, going far beyond the standard approach of a film ad, or even short-form branded content. If anything, other brands’ ads even ran alongside our TV program.

Most brands show up next to the films that people go out of their way to watch. Michelob ULTRA’s use of the film medium was the piece that people went out of their way to watch.

All proving the entertainment value of our brand’s message — sports are only worth it if you enjoy yourself.

Dreamcaster proved to be the captivating story that the world of sports wanted and needed to see. Not just another piece of branded content.

Captivating in Theaters

Our film made its big debut at the IFC Center, one of New York’s most famous movie theaters, later going on to sell out showings.

Our film’s popularity in theaters earned it a spot at the Dallas International Film Festival, an unheard-of accomplishment for a brand’s film.

Captivating on TV

MSG Networks felt that Dreamcaster would be so powerful with viewers that they ran it between every 4 Knicks games across the 2023-2024 regular season.

During our powerful run on MSG Networks, Dreamcaster reached 643,020 households in the New York area alone.

Captivating Online

After Dreamcaster aired on TV, search volume about Cameron Black doubled month-over-month.

After Dreamcaster aired on TV, search volume for Michelob ULTRA grew 22% month-over-month.