As the official sponsor of the NBA, Budweiser set out to create an emotional piece of content to celebrate the legacy of one of the league’s greatest retiring players: Dwyane Wade. Our film was rooted in basketball but spoke to Wade’s impact off the court, giving the world a new way to talk about a star who had been in the spotlight for 16 years. You didn’t need to be a basketball fan to appreciate our film. All you needed was a heart. We created a piece of content that transcended advertising to become a piece of news.

We surprised Dwyane Wade with jersey swaps from five people he’d impacted the most off the court. While not everyone had an actual jersey to swap with Wade, they all brought something that was emblematic of how he had helped them. Wade helped one woman overcome trauma after her brother was killed in one of America’s worst school shootings. She brought Wade the jersey her brother wore in his last game. Wade even bought his own mother a church after she was released from prison, giving her a new lease on life and the ability to lead a community. She gave Wade the robe she wore in her first service as a pastor. We showed how a basketball legend had a legacy bigger than basketball and created a piece of content that audiences could connect with on a real, emotional level.

Budweiser transformed the way brand sponsorships and partnerships can exist. We are the official beer of the NBA, which means that we have access to any highlight we want. So when it came time to celebrate Wade, one of the greatest NBA players ever, upon his retirement, we made a tribute video packed full of career highlights, right? Wrong. We went the complete opposite direction because his story was much larger than that. We celebrated Wade’s retirement but never showed him playing basketball. It allowed everyone to relate to our film, whether you were a sports junkie or had never even heard of the Miami Heat before.

We surprised Dwyane Wade with jersey swaps from the people he’s impacted the most off the court in a powerful, four-minute film. We debuted the film the morning of Wade’s last home game in Miami on April 9th across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Later that day, the film played inside the Miami Heat’s sold-out stadium, giving Wade the chance to see it for the first time minutes before he stepped on his home court for the final time. For those watching at home, we ran the film on TV on Fox Sports Sun, the TV network that covers the Miami Heat in Florida.

The film wasn’t just covered by the news, it became the news. Anyone who was talking about Wade’s retirement was using our film to do the talking. NBC called the film, “An incredible, emotional tribute.”CNN went so far as to air the film in its entirety during a primetime news broadcast. Wade himself lauded the film during an interview on Good Morning America, and before Wade’s final game, his wife, Gabrielle Union, said our film was the single most impactful tribute to her husband that she saw. Within hours of its launch, the film caused three different hashtags to trend simultaneously on Twitter, and, in the end, garnered the most social mentions for any campaign in the history of Budweiser, $6 million in earned media, 50 million views, 1.9 billion impressions and week over week IRI data reported a 3% national sales lift.