Rarely can a brand sponsor fundamentally change the game — much less the entire season — for a professional sports league. But when COVID-19 suspended the 2019–2020 NBA season, and players threatened not to return, Michelob ULTRA set out to do just that.

Through a boundary-busting partnership with the NBA and Microsoft, Michelob ULTRA Courtside set a new standard for pandemic-era live sports, bringing quarantined fans virtually back into the stands. And along the way, Michelob ULTRA created a truly unskippable experience fans were craving and that became inseparable from the story of the season.

“Play games without the fans? Nah, it’s impossible. I ain’t playing.”

— LeBron James, March 6, 2020

COVID-19 sent the sports season — and beer sales — into a tailspin. As quarantine set in, on-premise sales evaporated, fans feared a “lost season” and athletes threatened not to play. While other sports sponsors divested, canceling experiential activations, pulling ads and subduing communications, Michelob ULTRA set out to save its first year as the official beer sponsor of the NBA.

Once favored for its health benefits, light beer sales are declining 3%–4% per year and have been since 2013. Michelob ULTRA particularly struggles with social badge value among young urban consumers, who are quickly adopting trendy hard seltzers. Sales growth is heavily influenced by mental availability (reach, consideration and share of voice), which is driven by brand exposure and cultural relevance.

This made Michelob ULTRA’s mission clear: Matter in culture.

While other leagues scrambled to install cardboard fan cutouts, Michelob ULTRA partnered with Microsoft and the NBA... and Michelob ULTRA Courtside was born.

Powered by the debut of Microsoft’s AI-driven Together Mode and a ring of 17-foot LEDs, the experience digitally transported fans into the NBA Bubble, from home. The experience boasted millisecond data transfers, a never-before-seen rail cam and 120 spatial audio microphones, redefining the live watching experience.

Suddenly, empty stands that plagued stadiums became an invaluable brand opportunity. Real-time player, fan and broadcaster interaction made Michelob ULTRA an inextricable part of the season’s storyline, even showcased in video game NBA 2K20. Nightly, the brand featured seated first responders, adoptable dogs or unsuspecting fans, rubbing digital elbows with the likes of Lil Wayne, Shaq and President Obama. And across 124 games and 81.5 million hours of NBA coverage, Michelob ULTRA proved game-changing innovation… could change the game forever.

Michelob ULTRA had a problem with young, health-minded urban drinkers. Put simply, while the beer’s better-for-you product benefits appealed to this active consumer, the brand didn’t. Gaining consideration and relevance was critical, as the brand significantly under-indexed the light beer category with men 21–49 (-49% average) and women 28–34 (-17% average).

To reach this audience, Michelob ULTRA became the official beer sponsor of the NBA, which nearly two-thirds of Americans ages 18–44 are avid or casual fans of. But it would be a full embrace of the brand’s purpose, showing that joy creates success, that would ultimately unlock meaningful consideration lifts.

When COVID-19 threw the season and sponsorship into peril, athletes and coaches were worried that, without live fans, the game would feel as empty as the stands themselves. Michelob ULTRA had a chance to bring joy back to the game, and its consumers’ lives, along the way.

Michelob ULTRA virtually transported fans right back where they wanted to be… and where players need them to be: Courtside.

To get Courtside, fans scanned their Michelob ULTRA bottles to win virtual tickets to 124 games live-broadcasted from the Orlando-based NBA Bubble (7/30/20–10/11/20). Calls-to-action across PR, in-store and digital trade, social, influencer, broadcast integrations, TVC and more led to the most visited URL in the brand’s history, with 535,000 unique fans visiting and adding 25% to its CRM database.

The magic of the campaign went far beyond the lucky fans who sat Courtside. Influencers (Jimmy Butler, Scottie Pippen, Peyton Manning, etc.) posted and celebrities (President Obama, Mickey Mouse, Lil Wayne, etc.) made appearances all season. And Courtside dominated headlines in sports (ESPN SportsCenter, Bleacher Report, etc.), lifestyle (People, Today, Uproxx, etc.) and news (Wired, Fast Company, Yahoo!, etc.), becoming the #1 industry topic.

Michelob ULTRA Courtside changed the fate of the brand’s business as it navigated a year rife with disruption due to COVID-19.

The campaign became the cultural phenomenon the brand needed, surpassing all expectations with 13 billion impressions and 81.5 million hours of NBA coverage. That level of exposure and relevance drove a substantial lift in all major mental availability metrics, including consideration (+4.3%), reach (+31%) and share of voice (+6%).

The result? Michelob ULTRA sales grew 32%, due to soaring cultural relevance, on-bottle, scan-to-win ticket promotions and unprecedented brand exposure. In a year when distribution (physical availability) remained flat, the brand was the industry’s biggest share-gainer. Michelob ULTRA gained +69 points of market share, towering over declines of Miller Lite (-13 points) and Coors Light (-32 points).

Today, Microsoft is applying insights from Courtside to workplaces, classrooms and entertainment venues to make them more fun, engaging and memorable.