1

drinks (alcohol) 2017SportS marketing, SponSorSHip aCtiVation & partnerSHip leVerage

2

< Understand The PastUnlock The Future >

We deliver creative and strategic intelligence to fuel game-changing sports and sponsorship marketing.

Inspire your teams with the world’s most innovative sports brand campaigns, rights-holder marketing, sponsor activations, technologies & trends. Contact@activative.co.uk

Contents

Welcome > P3. Category Creative Reports - Drinks (Alcohol)

Overview: Trends, Tactics & Tech > P6. Alcohol & Sport Synergy / Responsible DrinkingP8. Particpation & Celebration / Lifestyle & SegmentationP10. Repositioning & TargetingP10. Bespoke Batches, Custom Cans & WiFi Cups & Caps

Best Practice Case Studies > P13. Crown Royal Whiskey (NFL) - ‘Hydrate Generously’P15. Heineken (F1) - ‘When You Drive, Never Drink’P19. Heineken (F1) - ‘More Than A Race’P23. Doom Bar (British & Irish Lions) - ‘Doom Bar v NZ’P26. Guinness (6 Nations) - ‘Kick Off Is Near’P28. Pimm’s (AELTC) - ‘At Wimbledon’P32. Stella Artois (AELTC) - ‘Serve Up One To Remember’P36. Jack Daniel’s (NBA) - ‘Lynchburg Lights’P40. Heineken (UEFA Champions League) - ‘Share The Drama’P44. Martini & Airbnb (Williams F1) - ‘At Night At The Pit Garage’P47. Budweiser/Bud Light (MLB/NBA/NFL) ‘Custom Cans’P51. Bud Light (NFL) - ‘Touchdown Glass’P55. XXXX (Cricket Australia) - ‘Goldie’

Creative Showcase > P60. Casillero Del Diablo & Man Utd / Champagne Carbon & F1 / Jacob’s Creek & Australian Open’ / Hardy’s - Cricket Australia P61. Bundaberg Rum & Fox Sports + NRL/ Corona & World Surf League / Ballantines & Ryder Cup / Singha & Chelsea FCP62. Budweiser & Super Bowl Spot / Budweiser & New York Yankees / Michelob Ultra 2017 Super Bowl Spot / Heineken & F1

About Us >

Welcome

5

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Welcome

Welcome to ‘Drinks (Alcohol)’: the latest in our series of category-specific sports sponsorship creative briefings.

This report pinpoints the key strategies, tactics, themes and trends and analyses best practice by showcasing the standout campaigns across the drinks category.

The review will help clients better understand the evolv-ing landscape by learning from the world’s best work: add-ing depth to their awareness and acumen of how sports and sponsorship marketers are meeting the challenges and leveraging the opportunities in the drinks industry.

We shine a spotlight on how activation promotes re-sponsible drinking initiatives, helps supporters celebrate victories and pay tribute to their favourite stars, gets them closer to the action and offers lifestyle experiences that blend sport with music, fashion and entertainment.

It explores how drinks sector sponsorships focus on the social side of support, segmentation and targeting, how brand partners use properties to reposition, engage new customers and even how they can directly drive footfall.

We also highlight the latest cutting edge packaging,

product and tech trends: from custom cans and be-spoke brews to action-linked cups and and wi-fi caps.

This report doesn’t just promote courageous campaigns, inventive ideas and new communica-tion and technology platforms, but also work that either responds to or drives socio-cultural change.

We are sure that you’ll find plenty of ideas, in-sights and inspiration and we look forward to 2018 when we continue the series with our next sector-specific report - ‘Airlines’.

Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

7

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

Alcohol & Sport Are A Natural FitAlcohol and watching sport have been synonymous for years.

There is a natural fit between them that has seen booze brands consistently strive for effective ways of en-hancing the spectator entertainment experience.

From the early days this involved simple in-stadium pouring/serving rights and this remains an important sponsorship strand (eg Bud Light’s NFL 2017/18 new sea-son ‘Vendor’ spot).

But strategies have evolved far beyond the stadium and now offer a multitude of ways to bring fans together to enjoy the social, sharing and unifying side of watching sport (eg Heineken’s ‘Soccer Is Here’ 2017 MLS season spot).

(Heineken activation has a heritage of uniting fans and at the 2016 Rugby World Cup even managed to unite rival England and Ireland fans through a singing stunt challenge.)

Drinks brands, of course, also help fans celebrate victories (eg Budweiser’s emotional ‘They Did It Harry’ Chicago Cubs MLB World Series winning commercial), they salute sports standout stars (eg Budweiser’s poi-gnant ‘Last Lap’ tribute to a Dale Earnhardt Jr’s retire-ment) and they innovate with new ways to get fans closer than ever to the pitch and the action (eg Budweiser’s aug-mented reality beer carrier at the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers).

Thus, in general, it remains the case that drinking is a fundamental part of almost all rights-holder proper-ties and thus there are more sports sponsorship oppor-tunities for alcohol advertisers than for those marketers working in most other categories.

Little wonder then that booze brands are amongst the biggest sponsorship spenders.

By way of illustration, IEG reported that during 2016 Anheuser-Busch InBev got closer than ever to overtaking PepsiCo as the USA’s top sponsorship spender: with the beer behemoth investing $365m in rights fees compared to PepsiCo’s $375m.

And AB-InBev is not the only giant US sponsorship player. The very same set of IEG data shows that rival Miller/Coors is the country’s 11th largest sports sponsor-ship rights buyer.

The Responsible Drinking IssueDespite the vast sums spent on rights and activation, there is a strategic quandary at the core of alcohol industry sports sponsorships: while drinking and watching sport is a natural fit, drinking and playing sport is not.

Whether it’s described as a contradiction or a con-flict, a dichotomy or a dilemma, this paradox must be carefully considered by booze brand marketers at the pre-planning stage.

As must (increasingly high profile) public health and medical concerns, the issue of underage drinking, plus differing legislation and regulation across markets (mak-ing global and multi-market partnerships complex) and calls for bans on not only alcohol sports sponsorship, but all alcohol advertising.

Yet, while some lobby for an all out ban, elsewhere there is actually an easing of restrictions.

Indeed, in June 2017 the world’s biggest domestic rights-holder, the NFL, lifted its long standing ban on li-quor and spirits advertising during games.

So, for the first time in its history, new rules now allow spirits brands access to America’s most popular sports league and the millions of viewing eyeballs that come with it.

As long as they don’t have a football theme and they include a ‘prominent social responsibility message’: see how the first ever such sub-category campaign by Crown Royal Whiskey adapted to these rules on p13).

So how can alcohol brands bridge this challenge that sits at the core of category sports sponsorships?

They could starting by learning from Heineken’s well rounded, parallel ‘responsible drinking’ and ‘lifestyle en-hancement’ strategies for its recent global Formula One sponsorship (see p15), or by considering how they could add to the plethora of responsible drinking alcohol sports sponsorship activation utilities (and gimmicks) that have launched in recent years: ranging from Carlsberg’s Euro 2016 ‘Breathalyzela’ to Budweiser 2017’s Super Bowl ‘Uber Offer Can Codes’.

8

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

9

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

Participation & CelebrationLike most alliances, alcohol activations succeed best when they enable spectators to get closer to the sport they love: connecting fans to the stars and the teams they are passionate about lies at the core of so much of the best booze brand partnership work.

Whether it’s a ticket (eg Bud Light’s 2016/17 NFL ‘Golden Ticket’ offered Super Bowl tickets for life), an at-stadium game-relevant installation (eg Caledonia Best’s ‘Scrum & Have A Try’ with Scotland Rugby), or getting a fan onto the field by putting his or her name on a player’s jersey (eg Castle’s ‘Home Ground Advantage’ with South Africa Rugby, or VB’s ‘Earn A Place’ with Cricket Australia), or even participating in brand-created matches (eg Mol-sen’s ‘Anything For Hockey’ NHL work has taken fans to play on top of skyscrapers and mountains).

And, in sport, as in the rest of society, drinks are also the traditional accompaniment to celebration: none more so than champagne.

One of 2017’s more interesting initiatives in this drinks’ sub-sector saw French luxury champagne house Lanson mark its 40-years Wimbledon partnership with a social campaign called ‘Celebrating 40 Years Of Cham-pions’. Using vintage archive footage, the activation celebrated the evolution of the crowd, the fashions and of The Championships itself and it was spearheaded by a 90-second spot featured across both the brand’s and Wimbledon’s digital and social channels as well as in the famous AELTC ticket queue.

Arguably the archetypal ‘winner champagne cel-ebration’ most familiar across the sporting landscape is atop the Formula One podium and this year saw Cham-pagne Carbon named as the new official F1 fizz.

The new brand, which replaced previous incumbent Mumm, sites tradition, taste, innovation, lifestyle and cel-ebration as shared brand/property characteristics and its activation also leverages craftsman synergies between its own carbon bottle and the racing car build material.

Another interesting 2017 category campaign in the F1 space saw Chandon promote its wine range through

its McLaren F1 team partnership through an unorthodox vineyard ‘Unexpected Race’ film featuring drivers Fer-nando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne.

Lifestyle, Experience & SegmentationThe glamour of the F1 lifestyle - consider how, for example, Heineken as activated its new rights by linking the sport to the world of fashion and music in order to broaden its appeal - is a big draw for sponsors in the motorsport space and the wider idea of lifestyle is a key factor in much drinks category sports sponsorships.

Whether it appeals to the global everyman (like Heineken’s UEFA Champions League work see p40), or a niche cultural fan base (such as Corona’s sponsorship of the World Surf League), lifestyle is often key.

And offering fans an experiential taste of a property-linked lifestyle is also a major contemporary drinks sec-tor activation trend.

One stand-out 2017 example of this particular tac-tic is Martini’s brilliant tie-up with Airbnb that activated its Williams Racing partnership by offering a night in the team’s pit lane garage ahead of the British Grand Prix (see p44).

Few landscapes so transparently illustrate tradi-tional consumer segmented targeting as drinks brand sports sponsorships and these classic product/consumer matches typically revolve around lifestyle themes.

This doesn’t just apply to champagne and motor rac-ing - this traditional targeting alcohol sub-category ap-proach applies right across the sports space.

For example, ale/stout regularly pairs with rugby union (eg Doom Bar and the British & Irish Lions on p23), whiskey typically links with golf (eg Ballentine’s work le-veraging the Ryder Cup on p61) and lager with football (eg Carlsberg and England/The FA on p9).

These traditional tie-ups aren’t surprising when sales and consumption statistics are factored in. For ex-ample, it was reported that the jump in UK beer sales dur-

10

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

11

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

ing UEFA Euro 2016 was the equivalent to an extra 31 mil-lion pints consumed by the country (between April and June) compared to the same period in the previous year.

Repositioning & New TargetingAs well as consolidating traditional drinks brands and consumer segmentation, sports sponsorship is also used in the industry to reposition brands, to reinforce new positions and to engage new target groups.

Marketers hope that the values and engagement opportunities offered by sports properties can transfer from a tournament or a team to a brand and engage with a fresh consumer segment.

For example, Mexican beer brand Dos Equis linked up with the NCAA in the USA to engage students as part of a strategy to target younger adults.

Dos Equis was Mexico’s best selling mass market beer in the 1940s and 1950s, but now it is being reinvent-ed as an upmarket import appealing to well educated young Americans.

Other examples of this strategy of using sports spon-sorships to reposition include Stella Artois’ sponsorship of Wimbledon (see p32) or to reach a new target group like Jack Daniels tie-up with the NBA (see p36).

Bespoke Batches, Custom Cans, WiFi Cups & High-Tech HatsTraditional on-pack, logo-led promotions and in-store offers (eg Whyte & Mackay’s British & Irish Lions promotion in Tesco offering customers buying a bottle a

chance to win prizes ranging from official Lions jerseys to VIP tickets to experience the Lions Tour in New Zealand) have long been mainstays of drinks brand partnership packages.

But contemporary activation increasingly looks to-wards more bespoke, more creative and more hi-tech sports sponsorship related products and packaging.

In recent years we’ve seen a rise in partnership-linked drink products: bespoke sports sponsor booze.

For example, when the Cubs won the MLB World Series bourbon partner Jim Beam produced a limited edition batch: Jim Beam Game 7 Batch is four-year-old straight Kentucky bourbon pulled from barrel on the day the Cubs won the World Series. While Budweiser lever-aged UEFA 2016 in the UK with a ‘Made By Fans’ branded tanker and beer batch by and for England fans.

There is also a parallel innovation trend in bespoke bottles and custom cans.

For example, every year the official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby, Woodford Reserve, invites artists and craftspeople to create a new horserace-themed, limited edition commemorative bottle, while Budweiser and Bud Light continue to lead the field in inventive approaches to custom cans that leverage US sports league partner-ships (see p47).

And it’s not just the drink and/or the packaging either: there is a growing trend for drinks marketers to jump on the internet-of-things trend to activate their sports sponsorships.

There is a particularly rich heritage of this particular approach in markets such as Australia (see Cricket Aus-tralia beer partner XXXX’s ‘Goldie’ campaign on p55) and in the USA (where Budweiser’s has rolled out NHL Red Lights, Goal Synched Cups and NFL Touchdown Glasses see p51).

12

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

Best Practice Case Studies

‘Hydrate Generously’Crown Royal Whiskey

NFL

Making the most of the National Football League’s new rules allowing in-game

broadcast liquor advertising at the very first opportunity, whiskey brand Crown Royal

bought the first slot in the first commercial break of the 7 September NFL season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Super

Bowl champion New England Patriots. The Diageo-owned spirits brand ran a 30-second

spot with a lengthy titled called ‘Hydrate Generously | Drink in Moderation | Crown

Royal Water Boys (Beverage Offsetters at Your Service)’ which went down in history as the

first ever NFL spirits’ spot.

15

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

Crown royal’s nFl commercial is set in a locker room at an unspecified athlete training camp and it features ‘waterboys’ playfully squirting one an-other and a coach talking tactics beside a white-board – but, as per the revised nFl rules, football itself isn’t specifically mentioned and no footballs are shown.

A campaign developed by creative agency Anomaly (along with Taylor Strategy, Vayner-Media, Starpower, Carat and Wasserman) is led by a commercial that also includes a responsible drinking message urging fans to moderate their in-take by supplementing alcohol with water (as the voiceover says “moderation and hydration”).

This hero spot, part of Crown Royal’s season-long ‘Hydrate Generously’ campaign, sees the brand remind fans to ‘drink in moderation’ and ‘cel-ebrate responsibly this season’.

The spot links this to a CSR strand by urging viewers to help us spread the message by using the campaign #HydrateGenerously hashtag and it also sees the brand donate $1 (up to $45,000) to Waterboys.org (a charity linked to the Chris Long Foundation that aims to bring life-sustaining and clean well water to East Africa) for every fan post featuring the hashtag.

Parent Diageo will itself donate an addition $45,000 regardless of the #HydrateGenerously hashtag usage numbers.

Diageo is also deploying real Water B.O.Y.S. (men and women) to distribute water at NFL sta-diums, tailgates, sports bars and in rideshare ve-hicles throughout the 2017/18 season.

Diageo pounced on the opportunity as soon as the NFL announced the new rules in early June.

“We had to work fast,” says Sophie Kelly, se-nior VP of North American Whiskeys at Diageo. “This is a huge opportunity for us.”

Kelly adds that the NFL offers a kind of reach that is ‘hard to come by these days’.

CommentWhile rival liquor brands had already adver-

tised during the NFL’s pre-season, this first official game commercial marks a potentially significant shift for the US spirits industry which now finally

has access to NFL ad real estate and thus a chance to market around the biggest sports and television property in the USA.

Of course, the marketers still have to tread a narrow path to advertise their way through the league’s extensive new regulations

The league has limited the total number of 30-second liquor commercials per game to four: with a maximum of two allowed in any quarter

Spirits ads are also forbidden from having a ‘football theme’ and they must also carry a ‘promi-nent social responsibility message’ as per the league’s new ad advisory released in June.

Surely Crown’s commercial, with its waterboy stars, coaches, tactics whiteboard and training camp setting, shows spirits brands will go as close to the edge as possible straight from kick-off.

Diageo’s Kelly comments that “the core cre-ative idea is all about riffing off sporting drills. Some of them will be familiar with anybody who has trained for any particular sport” and that the NFL “felt it was fully acceptable”.

Patron is another liquor brand to run NFL spots early in the new season: debuting its first football commercial during the season’s first Sunday-night game on 10 September.

While Hennessy also bought two 30-second ads in ESPN’s preseason in-game coverage.

Beer brands, have, of course, long had the NFL alcohol advertising field to themselves.

The league’s official beer brand, Bud Light, began its 2017 season activation with an inven-tive internet-of-things style, mobile app controlled branded beer glass that lights up every time the owner/drinker’s team scores (see p51).

It is also worth noting that despite the lifting of the liquor ad ban, spirits spots are still shut out of the Super Bowl itself – the year’s most watched TV event in the USA - as Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch’s current deal with broadcasters NBC and CBS ensure it has exclusivity alcohol category ad rights for the Big Game.

.

‘When You Drive, Never Drink’Heineken

Formula One

In Autumn 2016, the Italian Grand Prix saw Heineken launch a new Formula One

activation campaign with a global ‘When You Drive, Never Drink’ campaign fronted by three-time F1 champion Sir Jackie Stewart. Led by a striking 90-second spot, launched to coincide

with the brand’s first F1 Grand Prix official race title sponsorship, the activation started

the beer brand’s integrated, race-related responsible drinking initiative. It features CGI-

tweaked footage of Heineken ambassador Stewart, taken from throughout various stages

in his career, continually refusing to drink Heineken because he is driving.

17

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

With a soundtrack that sees postmodern Juke-box (with nicole atkins) rework David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’, the ad’s final scene sees 77-year-old Stewart at a glamorous party refusing a waiter’s offer of a Heineken and saying ‘i’m still driving’ (with a nod at a smart sports car parked outside).

First posted on Heineken’s YouTube channel on 2 September 2016, the global TV commercial also rolled out on international television sta-tions and F1 broadcasters and was also shown on trackside outdoor screens onsite at Monza.

Throughout the 2016/17 season it was further supported by reinforcement track branding mes-sages, as well as live fan experiences, a PR push and both packaging and point-of-sale work.

The campaign is also being backed up by digital (www.heineken.com/F1) and other social drink/drive messaging pieces (carrying the has-tags #MoreThanARace #HeinekenF1) and right across the Italian Grand Prix site itself.

This debut hero film is actually the first in Heineken’s initial three-part activation series.

The second spot, which airs in mid Septem-ber, features former F1 star and Heineken driver ambassador David Coulthard and is called ‘The Tutorial’ - it introduces Heineken’s parallel F1 ini-tiative called ‘More Than A Race’ (see p19).

Coulthard, who won 13 grand prix during his career, fronts this follow-up film that shows F1 is not only a two-hour race, but a glitzy 72-hour show touring the world’s most glamorous cities.

The ad, leading a campaign has been devel-oped in harness with Publicis Italy, directed by Aussie expat Gary Freedman from The Glue Soci-ety, it was filmed by internationally renowned di-rector of photography Stephane Vallee and post production was by an team from MPC, London.

Publicis Italy is the lead agency globally for Heineken and its CEO/ECD Bruno Bertelli is also chief creative officer of Publicis Worldwide and has worked on the Heineken business for 17 years.

“It’s a natural question to ask our point of view on drinking and driving,” explains Anuraag Trikha, Heineken’s global brand communications director, said of the sponsorship.

“For Heineken, it’s an obligation and an op-

portunity to promote responsible behaviour, be-cause people do want to listen to a brand like us. We are the only brewer to show people rejecting our own product

“Our new campaigns deliver in two key ar-eas: a new and innovative take on our responsible consumption platform, and a brand campaign aimed at driving commercial opportunities,” con-tinues Gianluca Di Tondo, senior director of the global Heineken brand.

“We have partnered with the ideal ambassa-dors for each campaign. Sir Jackie’s track record in road safety is unparalleled, with nearly 50 years of pioneering work. He’ll be heavily involved in the wider ‘When you drive, never drink’ campaign for Heineken. David embodies our ‘More than a race’ activity; he enjoyed a highly successful career as an F1 driver and now has a multi-faceted role in the F1 community.”

“Heineken’s new campaigns are impres-sive. They provide impact, innovation and scale,’ added Bernie Ecclestone, who was (at that time) chief executive of the Formula One group.

“The campaigns capture the essence of F1; safety and responsibility coupled with excitement and glamour. This is an example of why we were excited about Heineken joining the F1 family.”

Heineken’s complete $200m F1 partnership didn’t fully kick-off until the 2017 season when, as well as being an event title partner of three Grand Prix, the beer sponsor had a major presence at six further events as well as having rights to activate its exclusive global beer partner status.

CommentHeineken’s F1 ‘drink drive’ work (which has

some tactical and creative echoes of Johnnie Walker’s long running F1 ‘Join The Pact’ drink/drive pledge initiative), also continues on from Heineken’s commitment to enforce positive action on responsible drinking at Rio 2016 where the beer brand served a glass of water to accompany every beer poured.

The F1 work sees Heineken build on its long standing commitment to using its flagship beer brand to convey responsibility messages.

18

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

Indeed, according to the company, Heineken invests 10% of the brand’s glob-al media spend on dedicated responsible consumption campaigns such as ‘Moderate Drinkers Wanted’ and ‘Dance More Drink Slow’.

The messages are also delivered through other sponsorship platforms such as UEFA Champions League and Rugby World Cup (where one third of all pitch side advertis-ing is dedicated to the message), as well as via hundreds of music festivals and shows around the world.

The responsible drinking messaging also appeared on more than 8 billion bottles and cans.

In addition to the CSR led drink/drive ac-tivation theme, another strand of Heineken’s F1 leverage programme at Moza was also cause led: pre-race, the beer brand hosted a one-off 5-a-side game on the Monza track between F1 drivers and Champions League legends (this linking two of its key global sponsorship properties) that raised €50,000 for victims of the recent Italian earthquakes (see case study).

It was in June 2016 that Heineken and Formula One Management (FOM) an-nounced a partnership that saw the beer brand become a Global F1 partner.

Since the deal was signed, company filings from F1’s new owner Liberty Media suggest that advertising and sponsorship revenue grew in 2016 and this was primar-ily driven by the new contract with Heinek-en which last year brought in an additional $16.8m and which looks set to be worth $39.2m annually.

The deal officially runs until 2023: al-though Heineken has an escape clause that could bring the partnership to an end in 2020.

19

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

‘More Than A Race’Heineken

Formula One

Following the ‘When You Drink, Never Drive initiative and the initial ‘The Tutorial’ spot, a new phase of its evolving ‘More Than A

Race’ activation strand launched at the new season opening Australian Grand Prix in

March 2017. The campaign kicked off with Heineken’s largest ever Australian activation:

a multi-platform programme that spanned on- and off-circuit work that ranged from

trackside messaging, hospitality, plus on-site experiential and entertainment strands, as

well as ticket contests, television, print work, digital and social assets and an inventive ,

interactive out-of-home strand.

21

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

While on-site experiential activity centred on the australian gp’s circuit at albert park in mel-bourne where the Dutch brewer built a ‘Heineken Village’ (with a giant trackside entertainment precinct big enough to host 3,000 guests), there was also plenty of additional pre-race and off-site work that included a particularly innovative high-tech out-of-home phase.

This saw the official F1 beer give away tickets to more than 500 people who took part in an inter-active OOH street stunt that saw Heineken install live streaming interactive billboards across several major Australian cities.

These high-tech poster sites communicated with passers-by in real time: offering them the chance to win a ‘VIP Heineken Saturday’ experi-ence if they are able to prove their ‘wit’, ‘style’ and ‘street smarts’

Heineken’s marketers recruited ex-Bachelor contestant and model Olena Khamula to front this OOG phase which saw the Ukrainian born model put passers-by to the test to see if they had what it takes to join the international elite in Melbourne during the race weekend.

Another ‘More Than A Race’ activation strand, which rolled out later in 2017, saw Heineken ambas-sador, former driver and current F1 commentator David Coulthard front a series of online videos that aim to change consumer misconception that the sport lacks competitive excitement.

Developed alongside creative agency Publicis Italy and digital agency Poke, the trilogy of digital/social short films are each built around the insight that F1 isn’t simply a two hour race, but rather that each Grand Prix is a ‘72 hour spectacle of glamour and excitement, taking place in some of the world’s greatest cities’.

This fact-based video series – the spots range between 40 and 67 seconds each – has been de-veloped and optimised for social channels and is being amplified throughout the year across Heineken’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and You-Tube platforms.

The series consists of three films:‘Athletes’ (which focuses on breaking the ste-

reotype that drivers are not real athletes with real

examples of what they go through in each race, such as driving in temperatures over 50°C and being so fit they can handle more g-force than a space shuttle).

‘Circles’ (which tackles the misconception that F1 is just about driving around in circles and that a lot more goes into the race so drivers can perform at their best, such as cars getting adjusted every 20 minutes).

‘Cold Tech’ (in which Coulthard shows that although there is a lot of innovative technology involved, it is the people and culture around the Grands Prix that make it so special).

This aims to complement Heineken’s existing global campaign and offers a bit of brand bravery as it sees a sponsor address some of the property’s challenges as it seeks to open up the world of F1 to new audiences.

“Our aim with these films was to show people another side of F1 that is unexpected. There is more to F1 than people think and as the exclusive Global Beer Partner of F1 we are in the best posi-tion to be doing this through our global reach and audience,” explained Global Heineken Brand Com-munication Director Anuraag Trikha.

“With the hero films of More Than a Race, we’re bringing to life our brand essence ‘Open Your World’ by opening up the sport of F1 to new audiences in a new and engaging way. We are also bringing the world of F1 to a new digital plat-form where our target audience or millennials are watching. It’s new and innovative and highly en-gaging content, and we hope consumers around the world see F1 in a different light,” he added.

“For last year’s initial launch of More Than a Race, racing legend David Coulthard introduced a first-timer to the delights of the F1 experience. Now that we’ve established what the F1 world is about, the new films continue taking the viewers on this journey by giving them access to unexposed sides of the sport.”

Nicolas Roope, Executive Creative Director, POKE commented: “Heineken wants to lift the lid on F1 and show that it’s More Than a Race. Who bet-ter than Heineken’s F1 frontman David Coulthard to offer fresh perspectives on the global phenom-

22

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

enon? This video series was conceived and crafted for mobile consumption, designed to grab attention and reward the engaged with new insights and visual spectacle.”

“The script beckons viewers to glimpse obscure and interesting stories behind F1, that tell a fresh story about this extreme phe-nomenon. Each story needed illustrating to convey each point, but we also needed pace and dynamism in the visuals, so camera play and creative transitions were used to inject this energy. We needed interest to be upheld as the insights unfolded, to prove to every-one that F1 is “More Than a Race,” concluded Roope.

CommentWhen even your high paying sponsors

commit activation budget to overtly tack-ling misconceptions around the property, you know you have an event that is need of change.

And surely the new owners and their new F1 team will be appreciative of this kind of campaign approach?

After all, with Heineken tackling some of these F1 issues the sponsor is helping the rights-holder do its job.

Which rights holder doesn’t long for commercial partners who are prepared to do that (as well as pay a significant rights fee)?

It’ll be interesting to see which issues the F1 team and its partners tackle next: lack of competitiveness, accusations of sexism, a sense of unfriendliness to the loyal fanbase, pay TV paywalls, the challenge of electric, pure racing or auto industry development etc?

These two activation strands are a part of Heineken’s wider, season-long ‘More Than A Race’ initiative which aims to broaden and deepen the property’s appeal to a wider fan-base by looking beyond the cars to the wider world of lifestyle, enteratinment, fashion and music and thus to reach fresh, addtional con-sumer segments other than just petrolheads.

23

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

‘Doom Bar Vs New Zealand’Doom Bar

British & Irish Lions

The Cornish-based official beer of the British & Irish Lions, Doom Bar, leveraged its rights

around the 2017 tour of New Zealand by recreating a historic 1924 fixture between the All Blacks and a Cornish select team. Doom

Bar (the cask version of which is brewed in the Cornish Town of Rock), launched the initiative

before the first Lions versus All Blacks test. The Sharpe’s Brewery brand created a real rugby experience for (local) supporters unable to

make the long, expensive trip to New Zealand. Doom Bar created and hosted its own, free Lions-inspired rugby event at the home of

Cornish rugby – the Camborne Rugby Club.

25

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

the activation’s centrepiece was a genuine game between a Doom Bar select team (led by former england captain, lions player and brand ambas-sador phil Vickery) and a kiwi invitational side.

Pre-match, the initiative was promoted with social video pieces across the beer brand’s Face-book page as well as explanatory call-to-action assets on Twitter and local promotions.

Fans were invited to come along to watch the free fixture at 12:30pm and receive a compli-mentary pint upon arrival (when they register on EventBrite).

According to Sharp’s Brewery senior brand manager James Nicholls, the idea behind the game match was inspired by a historic match which saw the New Zealand All Blacks take on the Cornwall County team at Camborne Rugby Club back in 1924.

The campaign is also accompanied by a four-part video series exploring the background and origins of rugby in Cornwall, as well as the story behind bringing the teams together for this trib-ute game, as well as showcasing the match itself.

With the Lions/All Blacks games themselves taking place in the early mornings in the UK, Doom Bar addresses the time challenge by devel-oping a ‘pub finder’ function on its own site (see https://www.sharpsbrewery.co.uk/pint-finder/).

This invites fans looking to watch the game, which is being broadcast on Sky Sports’ pay TV channel, to simply slot in their postcode to find out which Doom Bar pubs are opening their doors early to show the fixture (Guinness activat-ed around the 2017 RBS 6 Nations with a similar tactic to drive pub foot fall through geo-located OOH posters – see case study).

The objective behind the beer brand’s Lions sponsorship is to tell the story of the brand’s rug-by-related journey to consumers and to demon-strate that Doom Bar is ‘a fan’ as well as a com-mercial partner.

“The intent behind this is to drive the mes-sage of the pride of the association with the Lions and then hopefully increase footfall to our pubs with the pint finder,” explains Nicholls.

Simultaneously the beer is using its social

channels to engage with Lions fans using the #TogetherToTheLastDrop tagline in commercials and across social media.

Online it is also running low latency content pieces linked to the Lions series: such as exclu-sive behind-the-scenes Lion news and views, a kit giveaway strand, plus Lions led content in har-ness with West Country native, rugby legend and athlete endorser Vickery, and media partnerships too.

CommentFor any UK-based brand, sponsoring a event

in New Zealand means there is a time zone chal-lenge when it comes to activating in real time around the game itself.

So one off the things we like about this ac-tivation is that Doom Bar has met this specific sports sponsorship challenge by staging its very own match and providing a utility for fans to watch the match in nearby pubs.

It was only in mid April that the beer brand, announced that the Sharp’s Brewery’s premium cask beer Doom Bar had become an official sponsor for the 2017 Tour to New Zealand.

The Lions Tour, a rare sports property that only happens once every four years, sees Doom Bar assume the role of official beer sponsor in both the UK and Ireland.

This alliance runs from April through the 10-game tour.

“We believe the 2017 British & Irish Lions Tour to New Zealand represents the iconic and inspi-rational pinnacle of the rugby game so this is a proud moment for all of us in the brewery,” says Nicholls

“The association of Doom Bar with the Lions is a great fit, based on our values of dedication, commitment, precision and teamwork, which are required on the field and in the brew house.

Signing up fairly late in the Lions cycle doesn’t seem to be a particularly unusual thing when it comes to booze brand, after all, fellow Li-ons alcohol partner Whyte & Mackay only signed and activated in March (see case study).

Doom Bar has a solid heritage with rugby

26

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

union partnerships and a key part of this tactical approach is because the beer is a Cornish brand and rugby has deep roots in Cornwall’s history.

Doom Bar has long embraced this af-filiation in its marketing.

“Back in 1994 it was six of us with a couple of transit fans and 100 outlets in Cornwall,” says James Nicholls, senior brand manager at Doom Bar.

“From those very early days we start-ed to sponsor local rugby clubs and we’ve built on that as we’ve grown.”

The beer often includes rugby imagery and references included in its advertising, and its on-the-ground events, as well as developing rugby-specific marketing initia-tives.

These are often led by brand endorser and legendary Westcountry rugby union superstar Vickery: such as his trick shot series from earlier in the year and his ‘Ulti-mate Rugby Adventure’.

‘Kick Off Is Near’Guinness6 Nations

Part of Guinness’ 2017 RBS 6 Nations rugby marketing in February and March saw the

iconic stout help England fans find the right pub, at the right time to watch live screenings

of England matches. To celebrate its status as the tournament’s official beer, the Irish

porter brand ran a locally targeted, dynamic Out-of-Home activation that used live-linked posters to capture the attention of rugby fans and Guinness drinkers and direct to them to the nearest pubs showing the England game and serving Guinness. An inventive, high-tech

outdoor campaign that drove on-premises rugby fan footfall in real-time.

28

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

in addition to its usual in-stadium logo, con-tests, giveaways and pouring rights work, one of the more innovative aspects of guinness’ 2017 rBS 6 nations activation was a locally targeted, dynamic out-of-home campaign across lon-don to help fans find the right pubs to catch the matches and to celebrate its status as the tour-nament’s official beer.

The stout brand’s aim was to capture the at-tention of rugby and Guinness fans and direct to them to pubs nearby where they can watch their team take to the pitch whilst enjoying a pint of the much loved pub favourite.

The campaign was devised by Carat and Posterscope, with creative ddeveloped by agen-cy AMV and it was deployed on JCDecaux’s LDN network.

It used an innovative, dynamic and creative approach that automatically served digital Guin-ness posters on match days as kick-off times drew near.

The ads were also utilities that aimed to drive on-premises footfall: providing kick off times and the directions and distance to nearby pubs screening the live match (run through Liveposter).

The campaign mechanic saw a network of sensors fitted in participating pubs which cap-tures footfall data and, based on venue capacity levels, triggers live, pub-specific tailored creative executions to drive fans to the best venues (with available seats/room) to watch the matches.

“Guinness is a Beer Made of More so we wanted an OOH campaign for the RBS 6 Na-tions that would embody this and provide more relevant content for our fans and pub partners,” explained Guinness Europe marketing manager Elliot Duncan.

“This campaign gives audiences upcoming match information and also let’s passers-by know where there’s an available seat nearby to catch the game accompanied by a pint of the official beer of the tournament.’

Alexandra Porritt, client manager at Poster-scope added: “This campaign uses location-mar-keting expertise to programmatically ad-serve relevant creative to audiences: using footfall data,

location and geo-targeting and dynamic creative to provide useful information to fans, in an engag-ing way, at the right time and in the right place.”

Another notable OOH strand of Guinness 6 Nations rugby work in 2017 that blended tradi-tional OOH work with modern, high tech market-ing platforms saw the stout use billboards and posters to promote its GuinnessPlus App with a range of Ireland rugby related offer.

CommentNow that web-linked digital billboards are

well established in so many cities, geographically relevant sponsorship activators can increasingly turn to outdoor advertising as a key platform in dynamic marketing.

This tactic is steadily becoming less gim-micky, more effective and it offers plenty of po-tential opportunities to sports marketers.

‘Pimm’s At Wimbledon’Pimm’sAELTC

Pimm’s and Wimbledon go together like, er, well, strawberries and cream, so it may raise marketing eyebrows that 2017 was the first

year the eponymous English summer fruit cup brand was an official Wimbledon partner. The

Diageo owned brand made the most of its new official status with a multi-strand ‘Serve’

campaign both inside and outside the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis And Croquet Club (AELTC). Inside it created two pop-up

bars, while beyond SW19 it set-up a Pimm’s Wimbledon Bar on the Selfridges Roof Deck, plus the campaign spanned OOH, social, as well as a frozen Pimm’s Popsicle product.

30

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

a key synergy shared by pimm’s and Wimbledon is that while both are associated with a certain style and status, they nevertheless both have broad appeal across the Uk.

Little surprise then that Pimm’s is a drink that has long been associated with traditional British summer sports and with Wimbledon in particular – even without previously having official sponsor status.

More than 280,000 glasses of Pimm’s were enjoyed during the 2015 Wimbledon Champion-ships - one without an official partnership.

This first official Pimm’s activation around its new sponsorship with the world’s top tennis tour-nament was an integrated, multi-platform cam-paign on- and off-site that included pop-up bars and bespoke new popsicle products, to online vide and social assets and the brand even linked its tennis-led activation to other partnerships.

For example, the ‘Pimm’s Croquet Club’ turned out at the 2017 Latitude and Wilderness festivals,

One of the brand’s spearhead, lead-in content pieces was an online video showcasing a bespoke machine designed to pour the perfect Pimm’s which ran on Facebook and Twitter.

This pre-tournament phase was accompanied by a ticket competition which saw the brand give away five pairs of tickets and to be in with a chance of winning fans simply needed to ‘like’ the sweep-stakes posts.

At the tournament itself, Wimbledon ticket holders could enjoy a drink from the ‘Pimm’s on the Hill’ bar and the classic garden-themed ‘Long Bar’, plus, but, as Pimm’s senior brand manager Elly Martin points out, the activation goes well be-yond the grounds.

Tennis fans outside of the confines of the site could also visit one of several branded bar expe-riences – including the Selfridges rooftop Pimm’s bar and several other pop-ups around London.

The activation programme also included a col-laboration with popsicle brand Pops to create a Pimm’s ice-lolly.

The official drink is also activating its rights across its social platforms with additional tour-nament-related content on its Twitter feed, Insta-

gram account and on its Facebook page.

CommentIt may be a surprise to many that this is the

first year that Pimm’s is an official tournament partner - after all, it has long had close associations with the event and has often marketed around it as an ambusher.

Previous unofficial campaigns around the ten-nis include 2016’s light-hearted ambush campaign fronted by Judy Murray as the brand’s ‘Chief Foli-age Officer (CEO)’.

That campaign saw mother of Wimbledon 2016 winner Andy front the booze brand’s comic campaign leveraging the tennis tournament.

The tennis coach, Fed Cup captain and new alcohol ad endorser led this ambush marketing ac-tivity revolving around Judy seeking out and per-fecting the ‘art of mint management’.

The background to her new role as CFO, sees the mother of single champion Andy and doubles Grand Slam winner Jamie ‘determined to get the mint bit right this year’, following her Twitter cri-tique of a Wimbledon bartender’s approach to her favourite summer time tipple during the 2015 tour-nament.

In a comment and photo on her own Twitter feed, Judy Murray critiqued the amount of mint fo-liage a bartender placed atop her Pimm’s Cup at last year’s tournament.

Pimm’s playfully responded to the tweet, tell-ing bartenders to only use the advised number of mint leaves – ‘three’ to be precise – for all drinks.

So this year’s response campaign, launched as the 2016 tournament began on 27 June, paired Judy Murray fronted film with an upbeat soundtrack to spearhead the campaign.

Created in the style of a staff training video, the spot blends a distinctly British dry humour with a narrative thread that follows Murray around the day she received a full herb garden poking out of her glass.

The set-up idea is that the spoof training video will be distributed to bartenders at venues across the nation to ‘uphold ‘mint standards’.

31

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

The campaign was initially teased on Twitter, and after it was first posted on the brand’s You-Tube channel, it was further amplified socially across Pimm’s own platforms.

It was also promoted via Judy Murray’s own personal platforms (to engage her 175,000 per-sonal Twitter followers), as well as seeing further support through ongoing Wimbledon related content and real-time comment social assets linked to on-court action.

The campaign also teamed up with PR agen-cy Taylor Herring to push the Pimm’s mint mes-sage and to tell the brand story and educate bar-tenders across the country.

The 2016 work follows on from last year’s Pimm’s tournament guerrilla work which, accord-ing to Amobee Brand Intelligence, demonstrated a very high association throughout the tourna-ment, across the web and on mobile and social platforms.

The brand tweeted throughout last year’s tournament using the same playful tone as its ongoing marketing based on its ‘Pimm’s O’Clock’ slogan.

In fact, according to the Amobee data, Pimm’s was the brand most associated with the 2015 tournament’s – beating out official spon-sor IBM by 2.5% and was ahead of other official AELTC partners by as much as 80%.

Wimbledon is just of several pillars of the Brit-ish establishment that Pimm’s partners with and meverages in its marketing.

Other recent sponsorship deals also leverage pillars of the British establishment, such as 2016’s sponsorship of Big Ben (the bell/clock tower’s first ever commercial partnership) to help the landmark of the Grade 1 listed building’s restora-tion programme and its Jelly Buckingham Pal-ace project celebrating The Patron’s Lunch, while summer 2016 saw the launch of the Pimm’s Cider Cup with an extreme croquet campaign.

32

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

‘Serve Up One To Remember’Stella Artois

AELTC

Stella Artois’ sponsorship strategy sits at the heart of the brand’s big picture objectives:

partnerships like its Wimbledon tie-up (as well as its alliances with The Open and Le Festival

de Cannes and with Abierto Argentino de Polo) are playing a key role in the beer brand’s

objective of shifting consumer perceptions in its 90-plus markets towards a positioning based upon its handcrafted process, natural

ingredients and premium status. Stella Artois’ 2017 Wimbledon work saw it ‘Serve Up One

To Remember’: an integrated, 360-degree Wimbledon campaign led by an experiential

space called ‘Vantage Point’.

34

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

the official beer brand’s campaign launched in the run-up to the tournament and, as well as the flagship experiential space, spans tV, digital and social promo-tions, influencer collaborations, trade ini-tiatives and a strategic ooH ad campaign urging tennis lovers and beer drinkers to ‘Serve one to remember’.

‘Vantage Point’, a tennis themed en-tertainment space, was created in Flat Iron Square (near London Bridge in Cen-tral London) to act as the OOH experien-tial focus of the tournament’s official beer brand’s activation.

This branded ‘summer tennis screen-ing and beer serving extravaganza’ is, ac-cording to Stella’s marketing team, ‘dedi-cated to your viewing pleasure’.

It officially opened on 3 July and every day of Wimbledon from noon onwards, it offers fans a chance to ‘savour a cold chal-ice of Stella Artois’ while the brand serves up ‘a smorgasbord of artisan food, live al-ternative commentary and all the best ten-nis matches’.

The experience is being promoted across the beer brand’s digital and social channels (such as Facebook) with content pieces linked by the #serveonetoremem-ber hashtag.

The Anheuser-Busch InBev brand, which is partnering the tournament for the fourth year, is also using its own channels to drive a tennis related content, including AELTC assets, around the tournament..

The activation also includes a set of limited edition Wimbledon 2017 merchan-dise and packaging, as well as tournament branded Stella Artois chalices, which all aim to help to drive a sales uplift.

The brewer is also offering special kits to help bars capitalise on the tournament: with assets ranging from Stella Artois-branded heaters and parasols, to stools and match-and-menu chalkboards.

There is a range of point-of-sale activ-

ity providing additional campaign support: themed around key purchasing behav-iours, these stretch from front-of-shop dis-plays and branded gondola ends, to shelf visibility materials and FSDUs – all with the aim of sparking interest and delivering a strong call-to-action to steer consumers to the beers, wines and spirits aisles.

Off trade, Stella Artois also launched Wimbledon 2017 packaging across hero formats to drive stand-out, with a support-ing Gift-with-Purchase initiative that sees consumers receive a limited edition Wim-bledon 2017 Stella Artois Chalice when buying packs of Stella Artoisfromn partici-pating retailers.

Stella Artois has also teamed up with CheckoutSmart to launch a ticket competi-tion for UK consumers (aged 18 and over).

Consumers who purchase packs of Stella Artois in-store or online from par-ticipating retailers, simply need to enter their details and upload a picture of their receipt at www.checkoutsmart.com/Stella to stand a chance to win a set of prizes that include four pairs of tickets to The Cham-pionships (one pair of general admission tickets for 8 July and three pairs of tickets to the Men’s Semi Final on 14 July).

“Stella Artois has become synony-mous with The Championships, Wimble-don. Not only is it seen by consumers as their number one favourite lager brand of choice, but from an on trade perspective it is seen as the perfect accompaniment to watch the tennis tournament,” argues Ta-tiana Stadukhina, Stella Artois’ European marketing director.

“We are really excited to bring back the bespoke The Championships, Wimble-don 2017 bottle packs and Chalices, which help to drive sales uplift and are loved by consumers,” continues Stadukhina.

“Stella Artois is a must-stock for all retailers, so we hope this partnership with the The Championships, Wimbledon 2017

35

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

36

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

will drum up even more excitement in the brand and further increase rate of sale throughout the country this summer.”

CommentThe brand sees it work with the AELTC/

Wimbledon as a route to further drive pre-mium brand perception, to increase pur-chase interest by strengthening positive as-sociations with the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament and drive major sales opportunities across off trade retail and in-cremental grocery sales over The Champi-onships, Wimbledon.

This 2017 activation seems a touch more sedate, less showy and less technically-charged when compared to some of Stella’s previous Wimbledon work: such as its 2016 campaign which was led by an all-singing, all-dancing TV commercial called ‘Never Heard Of It’ and its 2015 activation which revolved around cutting edge ‘Rufus The Hawk’ 360-degree VR work.

The ‘Never Heard Of It’ commercial itself reflects the strategic role of Stella’s sponsor-ship of Wimbledon (as well as with The Open (Golf) Championships, Le Festival de Cannes and with Abierto Argentino de Polo) as part of the brand’s positioning journey from mod-est beginnings to a premium product.

‘Lynchburg Lights’Jack Daniel’s

NBA

Mid May 2017 saw new National Basketball Association (NBA) spirits sponsor Jack

Daniel’s launch a tongue-in-cheek, integrated campaign lobbying the league to create a new hoops franchise in the whiskey brand’s home town of Lynchburg, Tennessee - a small town

with big (basketball) dreams. The work, which leveraged heightened interest around the NBA

Playoffs, was developed with agency Arnold Worldwide and was the first fully-rounded activation since the Brown-Forman owned

whiskey brand unveiled its new official NBA partnership back at the beginning of the year.

38

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

the campaign admits that the town’s 572 residents know it’s “not the most exciting place in the world”, but they claim to have “no shortage of team spirit” and that they “know a thing or two about developing a franchise.”

The initiative was spearheaded by a new 30-second TV commercial, called ‘Lynchburg Lights’, which debuted on 10 May during the Washington Wizards/Bos-ton Celtics playoff game.

The idea is so deliberately far-fetched that even hoops Hall of Famer and current TV analyst Bill Walton exclaims “What?” in a commercial cameo.

The spot sees townsfolk show their passion for the league by building a mock-up NBA arena, creating banners welcom-ing the NBA to town and publishing a front-page story about the franchise in the town’s newspaper – “Lynchburg Looks To Score Big With NBA.”

Plus, in a neat reference to the brand’s famous namesake nickname, fan foam fin-gers say “We’re No. 7 (referencing the Jack Daniel’s ‘Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey’ sub branding.

The central spot is supported across the brand’s digital platforms and social media platforms.

As is de rigueur with alcohol adver-tising – especially when it is linked to the sports space, or when young fans might even have eyeballs on the work – the cam-paign includes a strong ‘Drink Responsibly’ message.

(After all, any league with a core fan-base that includes kids and families knows it has to tread carefully when it comes to booze backers).

“The NBA is a perfect fit for Jack Dan-iel’s as we both share the same values of integrity, loyalty and community,” explains John Higgins, VP brand director for Jack Daniel’s North America.

“We couldn’t be more excited for our

fans and consumers who love the great sport of basketball.”

“In Lynchburg, TN, they have some NBA fans for sure. But we’re not kidding anyone. They’re whiskey makers, first and foremost,” commented Arnold SVP and creative director Chris Valencius and VP and creative director Gregg Nelson said in a joint statement.

“And they have a history of doing things their own way. So when Jack and the NBA became partners, we decided to do the only rational thing: help them get their own NBA team. These are people who’ve never let the smallness of their community stop them from doing big things, so it just felt right.”

CommentThis funny spot continues the long-run-

ning ‘down-home’ approach and attitude of so many recent Jack Daniel’s commercials; many of which revolve around the idea that what Lynchburg lacks in size it makes up for in friendliness and dedication.

This is the first full campaign since the brand signed on as an official NBA partner.

Prior to this campaign, Jack Daniel’s activatived around the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans in February and announced the partnership in January with a set of cre-ative executions featuring a statue of Jasper Newton ‘Jack’ Daniel, who founded the busi-ness in the 1870s, with a basketball and copy reading “Jack Daniel stood only 5’2, but as an official NBA partner we’re feeling much taller.”

The multiyear partnership sees Jack Daniel’s became an official marketing part-ner of the NBA, as well as of the WNBA, D-League and USA Basketball.

It is the brand’s largest partnership with a professional sports league in Jack Dan-iel’s 150-year history and it tipped off dur-ing NBA All-Star 2017 in New Orleans with Jack Daniel’s House No. 7 (a branded expe-

39

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

riential / participatory fan hospitality space featuring musical performances, basketball-themed activities, southern cuisine, and of course, plenty of whiskey).

After its All-Star programme, Jack Dan-iel’s has been developing NBA-themed pro-grams at retail stores and restaurants and plans further custom marketing and NBA advertising campaigns.

The brand also partners with five NBA teams on an individual franchise basis: At-lanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.

So why would a tiny Tennessee distill-ery sponsor the NBA?

Particularly one who’s iconic brand has been based (and grown) around a simple campaign dating from the 1950s and still running today, which was originally called ‘Postcards’, that told old-school, traditional stories about the brand’s home town of Lynchburg and its old-time method of mak-ing whiskey.

Well, in short, because Jack Daniels is now the largest-selling whiskey in the world and is seeking to grow even bigger by en-gaging with a more global, younger audi-ence.

Of course, the brand’s official justifica-tion for the deal is about values-based syn-ergies – integrity, loyalty, respect and com-munity – but surely it is the growing mixed millennial fanbase that is the true attraction.

After all, according to InfoScout, Jack Daniels current typical consumers are high-er income Caucasians and it hopes that the new NBA deal, along with its music and en-tertainment partnerships will help boost its expansion into other, more diverse demo-graphic segments.

While the NBA, which was founded in 1946 and has 30 teams, ranks third of the US sports league in terms of total revenue (at $5.8bn compared to the top ranked NFL’s $10bn) and the 20.4m viewers for the 2017

NBA Finals is dwarfed by the Super Bowl’s 111m, it is the league’s ‘youthfulness’ (by design) that is perhaps its biggest partner draw.

Of the Big Four US leagues, it has the most millennia fans and the youngest me-dian age (although the MLS is younger).

It’s big name players are treated like pop stars, it has a strong youth programme, kids start playing at a very young age and, above all, most market watchers agree that it is by far the most forward-thinking and tech-savvy of the four major US pro sports.

40

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

‘Share The Drama’Heineken

UEFA Champions League

In early 2017 Heineken extended its UEFA Champions League (UCL) sponsorship for a further three years to continue its strategy

of using sports/sponsorships to grow global market share. Its UCL activation - along with other big partners like F1, Rugby World Cup and James Bond - is increasingly focused on creating engaging fan experiences beyond

the match’s 90 minutes (and on data). On 11 September, to leverage the first group 2017/18

matches, it launched #ShareTheDrama: a campaign spearheaded by absurdly dramatic,

highly cinematic spots starring icons Ronaldinho, van Nistelrooy and Dudek.

42

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

the tournament’s official beer sponsor lever-aged the start of the group stages with a cam-paign spearheaded by a set of three new spots – ‘the Wall’, ‘the Chase’ and ‘the last Duel’ – each connected by the dramatic theme and the #SharetheDrama hashtag.

For a beer brand that positions itself as a global lifestyle democratiser, #SharetheDrama interprets the high stakes of soccer through cin-ematic tropes that those who are not hardcore fans can perhaps better understand the excite-ment of the tournament’s drama.

This approach may widen some perspectives on the sport and shed some understanding on why football fans are so enthusiastic about the sport.

These blockbuster spots, shot by Sonny’s Fredrik Bond, place player ambassadors into cin-ematic Hollywood-style dramas spanning three future/contemporary/period genres with the rel-evant movies tropes.

The campaign, developed alongside Publicis Italy, was initially teased on its social channels several hours ahead of kick-off on Instagram and Twitter, before the roll out of the three hero spots.

Each of these 60-seconds spots ends with a copy line emphasising Heineken’s long term com-mitment to and partnership with the tournament – ‘Sharing The Drama Since 2005.

Arguably the strongest of the three spots is ‘The Wall’: which offers a futuristic, Asian/Manga flavour and features Champions League legend Ronaldinho pitched in an epic, video-game style battle against a sci-fi defence (complete with ro-bots, drones and geishas).

‘The Chase’ is an dramatic, urban pursuit contemporary commercial that sees former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker van Nistelrooy coming face to face with his old UEFA Champions League enemies positioned as sinis-ter gangster types in what is soccer advertising’s version of a high-speed manhunt.

While ‘The The Last Duel’ is a period drama promo starring goalkeeping legend Jerzy Dudek staring down the barrel of a cocked gun in his-toric pistols-at-dawn style Champions League

shoot out complete with footmen and a fair lady to bear witness.

This past/present/future creative approach is the first new activation from the brand as it continues its objective of bringing the thrill of the tournament to life through ‘a memorable call to share the experience with family, friends, and a Heineken’.

CommentHeineken’s latest UCL extension sees the

Dutch brewer continue to sponsor the world’s top club football tournament until the end of the 2021.

As a company, Heineken’s UEFA partnership dates as far back as 1994 and the name brand took over from sister beer Amstel in 2005 as the central Champions League official beer – making it one of UEFA’s longest standing partners.

The renewal also includes a rights pack-age that spans LED pitch boarding exposure, the rights to exclusive UEFA Champions League content (including ‘Back Stadium Tour’ and the ‘UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour, present-ed by Heineken’).

The refreshed alliance, which also includes the Uefa Super Cup from 2018 until 2020, sees the UCL continue a partnership which is an inte-gral part of its global marketing.

The Champions League, according to UEFA, is enjoyed by a staggering 4.2 billion people around the world, so it is little wonder that it forms a central pillar of Heineken’s sports spon-sorship strategy.

In fact, in total, Heineken aims to bring its UEFA Champions League sponsorship to more than 220 countries via advertising, marketing and PR.

Heineken’s global sponsorship director Hans Erik Tuijt says that the UCL (and F1) are huge global properties that Heineken’s uses as plat-forms to grow global market share - particularly in regions such as Asia, Africa and South America.

The UCL partnership sits alongside other football tie-ups around the world: including a 10-year, $50m Major League Soccer sponsorship in

43

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

the USA (and nine individual MLS team tie-ups), as well as the International Champi-ons Cup and an ESPN alliance.

This fresh campaign for the new sea-son seems to position Heineken as linking the Champions League’s past, present and future.

It follows on from the beer brand’s global ‘Champion the Match’ integrated campaign from previous seasons which ran in more than 100 markets and which in-cluded a Jose Mourinho fronted activation strand for the last tournament.

This saw Heineken launch as Febru-ary UCL activation phase called ‘No More Excuses’ to coincide with the start of the previous competition’s knock-out stages.

Fronted by José Mourinho (a big name manager and multiple winner who’s Man-chester United team were not playing in the 2016/17 tournament), it spanned mul-tiple content pieces and also features a chatbot.

Led by a launch spot that saw Mourinho read out a series of lame excuses from fans for not getting together to watch UCL matches, Jose demands that fans turn the football season into a social occasion.

The campaign, developed in harness with Publicis Worldwide and agency Poke London, was supported by supporting pieces across Heineken’s digital and social platforms - including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter - and the beer brand also ran a series of social posts prior to each UCL match week reminding fans to tune in to games up to the final which will be held in Cardiff on 3 June.

The chatbot strand launched in April via the Facebook Messenger application and offered a set of rewards to football fans who turn Champions League matches into social occasions – these range from transport offers, to free food delivery and home cleaning discount codes.

Mourinho also featured in Heineken’s

initial 2016/17 tournament campaign phase back in September 2016 when he starred in the spearhead TV commercial (direct-ed by Guy Ritchie through Publicis Italy) called ‘The Prep Talk’ - which also featured Mourinho calling on football fans to get together to watch the UEFA Champions League matches

In the PR material supporting this Sep-tember activation Mourinho himself stated: ‘Heineken has been on the touchline with me through my whole UEFA Champi-ons League career. I like what the brand stands for especially its stance on respon-sible drinking. Filming the Prep Talk was a new, and very enjoyable, experience. Guy Ritchie is a great coach, and definitely got the best out of me.’

(The self-styled ’Special One’ has been reported to be pocketing as much as £4m-a-year from his Heineken endorsement deal.)

This work follows Heineken’s rich and award winning Champions League activa-tion heritage which, as well as trophy tours, ticket giveaways, lifestyle experiences and traditional ads, has in recent years includ-ed ‘The Cliché’ (a viral in Brazil), ‘The Final Hashtag’ (a social OOH ticket giveaway in Milan), ‘Friends Dilemma’ (a stunt in Italy), ‘Behind The Mask / The Substitute’ (a Rio Ferdinand spot in the UK), ‘#ShareTheSofa’ (an in-game, star player Twitter Q&A) and ‘The Match’ (a global TVC).

44

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

‘A Night At The Pit Garage’Martini (AirBnB)

Williams Formula One

Primary partner Martini teamed up with Airbnb to offer a unique overnight stay in the

Williams Martini Racing pit garage at the Silverstone F1 track ahead of the British Grand

Prix on 15 July 2017. Thus bringing to life the ‘lifestyle led’ strategy on which the deal was inially justified. Back in 2014 when the

p;artnership was unveiled, Martini’s marketers said that it was the opportunities Williams

offered “to connect with consumers via one of their lifestyle passions” and that activation would be built on “giving consumers a taste of life in the fast lane, bringing a sense of Italian style and glamour to the track and beyond”.

46

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

Williams racing and title sponsor mar-tini and airbnb ran a once-in-a-lifetime-experience for a fan and guest to spend the night in the team’s garage – including eating with the team, celebrating its 40th anniversary, as well as sleeping with the FW40 cars – the night before the 2017 For-mula one rolex British grand prix.

The winner didn’t just stay in the pit lane garage, but also met the drivers and received a guided garage tour from depu-ty team principal Claire Williams and scoop track-side seats at the big race the next day.

The prize spanned travel and accom-modation, transfers, food and drink, visa fees, £250 cash and a Martini gift pack spanning the whole trip from 14 to 16 July.

The garage space was transformed overnight from a bustling workplace into a peaceful bedroom: complete with curated works of Martini Racing Art on the walls and an expertly engineered bed ready for your speediest dreams.

The competition, which was hubbed around the Airbnb contest page at https://www.airbnb.co.uk/night-at/wmrgarage, actually began back in April.

The property listing simply said: “For-mula 1 fans looking for a way to live out their passion, can now spend a night at the Williams Martini Racing garage at the 2017 Formula 1™ Rolex British Grand Prix, in Sil-verstone, England. Nestled between two Williams Martini Formula 1 cars, the bed will offer the ultimate headrest for a max power nap.”

The competition was promoted social-ly by brand, partner and team.

The competition ran from 27 April to 16 May for race fans over 25-years-of-age and a resident of either Belgium, Italy, Ger-many, Russia, Spain or the UK.

To enter, Williams fan, Martini drinkers and or petrol heads were simply invited to sign in with an Airbnb account, go to the

Williams Martini Racing garage compe-tition listing page and click on the ‘Enter to Win’ button and then submit a creative story in 100 words or less ‘explaining what they love about racing and why they should be the lucky one chosen to stay the night at the Williams Martini Racing Garage’.

The winners were chosen by a panel of judges comprised of members of the mar-keting teams of Airbnb and Martini and one independent judge and picked on merit based on originality and creativity.

“It’s amazing what Martini has done for racing since its return to Formula One. They really understand the joy and passion of the sport – and celebrate it on and off the track. For me, the Williams Martini Rac-ing garage has always felt like a home away from home and I can’t wait to welcome the winners at Silverstone this summer,” says driver Felipe Massa.

“At Martini, we’re not just a racing sponsor, we’re race fans. Aside from driv-ing an F1 car, spending a night in the ga-rage is like waking up in your own racing dream,” explains Bacardi global head of creative excellence Zara Mirza.

CommentOn race weekends pit garages are

tightly restricted and usually the preserve of drivers, mechanics and the elite F1 circle and super star guests, but at the heart of this campaign Martini aims to celebrate the joy of racing by opening its garage doors.

This is one of several interesting Martini F1 marketing moves this season: as well as the usual track-side hospitality work, an-other of the Bacardi-owned brand’s recent initiatives saw it rework its famous 2009 gi-ant billboard ad for the Monaco Grand Prix.

This is the latest in Airbnb’s ‘Night At’ series – which sees guests stay in iconic locations around the world ranging from a pitchside bedroom at the Audi Cup in Bay-ern Munich’s Allianz Arena (https://www.

47

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

airbnb.co.uk/night-at/audicup), to Van Gogh’s bedroom at the Art Institute Of Chi-cago.

It was back in March 2014 that the Wil-liams Formula One team confirmed a major sponsorship with drinks company Martini when it trumpeted the tie-up by unveiling a striking striped new car livery.

At the time of the announcement, both brands highlighted their shared rich history in the world of motorsport and their shared values.

The team was renamed Williams Mar-tini Racing as part of a five-year agreement, brokered by JMI (part of Chime’s CSM divi-sion), reported to be worth US$15m annu-ally.

Martini was a major sponsor of the Brabham Formula One team between 1975 and 1977, before switching to Lotus for 1979. Then after a period as a sponsor in other forms of motorsport, Martini re-entered For-mula One in a much smaller capacity with Ferrari between 2006 and 2008.

But the value of the Williams F1 deal re-flects the evolution of the property: whilst one of the larger property title partnerships in F1, it was well below the 2007 peak when Vodafone shelled out around $75m-a-year to McLaren and ING backed Renault to the tune of $54m annually.

‘Custom Cans’Budweiser / Bud Light

MLB (NBA & NFL)

Budweiser, the official beer of Major League Baseball (MLB), leveraged pre-season

excitement ahead of the first pitch through a product/packaging team customisation project that saw it invite a series of local

artists to create designs inspired by their city and/or team to feature on team branded cans

to be sold in-stadium and in the local area. Budweiser selected a team of local artists across multiple US cities with MLB teams

and worked with each of them to create the designs for their hometown club’s can. Thus

bringing a more creative, art-led approach to the sports sponsorship ‘custom can’ trend.

49

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

the custom can product packaging sports sponsorship trend continued through 2017 and it continued to be led by Budweiser and sister brand Bud light - especially with its work re-lated to its mlB, nBa and nFl partnerships.

The MLB art can concept saw the artists cre-ate a unique individual design for each team can: featuring local landmarks from the Gateway Arch for the St. Louis Cardinals can to vintage New England stores fronts and signs for the Boston Red Sox can.

For example, the St Louis Cardinals can was created by illustrator Adam Koon who used the team’s design past and 1950s nostalgia as inspi-ration.

‘It really helped a lot to look at historical baseball memorabilia as well as print material to make this a true St Louis piece,’ he explains.

While artist Annica Lydenberg, who de-signed the Boston can, was inspired by vintage New England store and restaurant signs as well as her lifelong passion for the Red Sox.

In addition to being sold at local parks, the project also being amplified digitally and socially with supporting clips, GIFs, images and accom-panying copy content pieces on the beer brand’s US platform such as Twitter.

The cans went on sale on 27 March, a few days ahead of the 2017 season’s Opening Day on 3 April.

The first season-opening phase of the proj-ect initially included cans for the Baltimore Ori-oles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs & White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Dallas, Houston Astros, Los An-geles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets & Yankees, Oakland As, San Diego Padres, St Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays and Washing-ton Nationals.

‘Baseball and the culture it created is a true celebration of the American spirit,’ outlines Bud-weiser Marketing VP Ricardo Marques.

‘This year, we wanted to leverage our long-standing partnership with MLB to raise a toast to the fans by giving them a piece of their home-town to enjoy right in the palm of their hand.’

Sister brand Bud Light also applies the cus-

tom can tactic to its sports property partner-ships – the most interesting recent example of which was its 2017/18 NFL kick-off custom can campaign which linked to Snapchat codes: an initiative that was less about creative packaging design and more about new technology driven promotions.

Ahead of the start of the NFL 2017/18 sea-son, the league’s official beer brand took a two-pronged promotional approach to leveraging pre-season excitement by rolling out a new set of team customised cans and using them to offer codes for a Snapchat led season-long competi-tion.

Thus the league’s official beer gave NFL fans and consumers a double shot at toasting NFL enthusiasm to put its products top-of-mind with consumers and football fans.

As it sought to leverage fan allegiances, the Anheuser-Busch InBev brand launched new team-themed cans and aluminium bottles for 28 NFL franchises: with team logos and imagery, along with team-related phrases and expressions to pay tribute to each side’s identity.

These copy lines – which range from Phila-delphia Eagles’ “Fly Eagles Fly,” and Pittsburgh’s ‘Got Six’, to Atlanta Falcons’ “Rise Up”, Tennes-see’s “Titan Up” and Cincinnati Bengals’ “Who Dey” – aim to use franchise relevant wordplay to inspire fan/drinker appreciation and consump-tion.

These unique team can/bottle designs also feature Snapcodes that enable fans/consumers take a photo of them using Snapchat to unlock a chance to win Super Bowl LII tickets, an inter-active Bud Bowl-style game and team-specific Snapchat filters.

This Snapchat competition phase of the new season launch activation started in parallel with the league’s regular season game kick off on 7 September when the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots hosted the Kansas City Chiefs.

The beer behemoth offered a chance to win tickets to the match-up at US Bank Stadium through Snapchat codes that unlock an interac-tive Bud Bowl style game and additional team-

50

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

specific filters.As the campaign unfolded, support-

ers and other squads’ backers cheered for scores, interceptions and all kinds of clutch plays not just because they could bring playoff berths, but because they could bring prizes too.

As well as the team-specific packaging and Snapchat competition, Bud Light also rolled out new football focused television advertising throughout the NFL season.

These commercials were creatively and thematically linked to the brand’s on-going ‘Famous Among Friends’ campaign: celebrating the fun times made while build-ing friendships over sports and beer.

The first TV ad debuted on air during the season-opening game on 7 September.

“NFL team packaging has become something fans look for from Bud Light year after year,” said Anna Rogers, Direc-tor of NFL Partnerships and Strategy, An-heuser-Busch.

“We are proud to continue that tradi-tion and give fans another way to support their favorite teams while enjoying NFL football with their friends. We are also very excited to roll out NFL packaging on alu-minum bottles for the first time in addition to cans.”

Bud Light’s continuation of the NFL team can tradition and competition ex-tends its long and rich activation tradition as the official beer sponsor of the NFL.

A precious partnership with the USA’s biggest sports property: with each NFL game day seeing viewing parties and tail-gates up and down the nation act as ma-jor sales opportunities for packaged food, snacks, delivery businesses and beverage brands.

When this campaign launched it was still three weeks before the NFL kick-off, but it was already at least the third sponsor campaign leveraging the new NFL season through a Snapchat code led competition.

As far as NFL partners are concerned – Snapchat code contest are the fashion-able 2017/18 pre-season activation tactic.

This seemed like a smart move from Bud Light and it is likely that sufficient numbers of fans will engage with the Snap-chat strand in search of NFL prizes and tickets.

Apart, of course, from the fan that won the brand’s previous 2016 ‘Strike Gold - Gold Can’ competition which offered Su-per Bowl tickets for life.

CommentThe Budweiser and Bud Light market-

ing and design teams really are the current mass market beer brand leaders when it comes to customising cans.

Yet another example saw Bud Light work with its NBA team partners to create specific can designs ‘that speak directly to each team’s passionate fan base, and serve as a way for die-hards to show their sup-port whether they’re cheering courtside or from the couch’ for the 2017 All Star Week-end in New Orleans.

These NBA team-branded Bud Light cans were available in the All-Star Bud Light Bar and Lounge for All-Star Week-end, after which the limited cans were made available in local participating stores through the rest of the season.

But, despite its official league partner status, Bud Light isn’t the only beer brand to roll out NFL team customised cans.

Rival beer Miller Lite also aimed to make some NFL related marketing noise by launching a series of custom can illus-trations linked to its own 18 team alliances as it aims to connect with fans in each city around kick-off (see http://www.millerco-orsblog.com/news/miller-lite-custom-pro-football-illustrations-nfl/).

To try and stand-out from this clut-tered can space, Miller Lite set out to mine the local traditions and the cultural identi-

51

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Overview > Trends, Tactics & Tech

ties of each of its partner teams and to develop what Miller Lite’s Brian Schmidt calls “steal-worthy artwork”.

The illustrations, developed in tandem with cre-ative agency DDB, each feature iconic images linked to teams and/or their cities.

They range from a hard-hat wearing steelworker in Pittsburgh and a mythical football-toting Viking in Minnesota, to a Packers’ player performing the famous Lambeau Leap in Green Bay.

The Miller campaign rolled out in each regional market across a variety of platforms: ranging from in-restaurant and in-bar assets, to retail outlet work, out-door media installations in/around the stadiums and digital ads and social pieces.

“The custom illustrations,” Schmidt says, “are a way for Miller Lite to establish a more-authentic bond with the team and fans of the team.”

Of course, it’s not just the alcoholic drinks sector jumping on the custom drinks packaging bandwagon: 2017 also saw NCAA partner Coca-Cola extend its on-going Share-a-Coke’ name/label initiative to to univer-sity hoops fans for college basketball’s March Madness tournament with customised Coke (or Coke Zero or Diet Coke) bottles with team logos, nicknames, and battle cries for more than 50 colleges and universities.

‘Toucdown Glass’Bud Light

NFL

The Anheuser-Busch brand Bud Light, the official beer of the National Football League (NFL) since 2011, kicked off the new 2017/18

season by debuting its ‘Touchdown Glass’: beer glasses which connect to a mobile app and the light up whenever the fan/owner’s

favourite team scores a touchdown. The web- and on-field action-linked drinking utensils

spearheaded the start of the new season and also celebrated Bud Light’s status as the official sponsor of the NFL’s season-opening

Kick-Off Game between last year’s Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots and the

Kansas City Chiefs.

53

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

the nFl’s beer brand partner launched the new glasses on 7 September by hand-ing them out to fans at the season open-ing game between reigning Super Bowl champs new england patriots and the kansas City Chiefs.

The first batch of glasses were pre-pro-grammed to light up blue when the home team Patriots scored..

This launch phase was followed by Anheuser-Busch putting 28,300 glasses up for sale on its website BudLight.com/touch-down.

The limited edition number of glasses put up ffor sale is a nod to the Patriots’ 28-3 comeback in Super Bowl LI.

Fans purchasing the Touchdown Glass ($17.99) simply use the mobile app to link it to their own team after which it will light up all season long whenever their side scores.

The glasses are made by BuzzConnect and the live statistics provided through Stats Llc.

Patriots fans in Boston’s Gillette Sta-dium for the first game of the new season were also encouraged to participate in a ‘ceremonial toast’ as their Bud Light Touch-down Glasses lit up when the Super Bowl LI banner was unveiled (activated by in-stadi-um radio frequency).

The interactive glasses spearhead Bud Light’s wider NFL sponsorship programme around the new season – which also in-cludes new TV spots and team cans (see case study).

Bud Light’s initial 2017 NFL TV spot, ‘Vendor’, also debuted during the first NFL game of the season between the New Eng-land Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs at Gil-lette Stadium on 7 September.

The ‘Vendor’ spot is the latest creative from the brand’s ongoing ‘Famous Among Friends’ concept – one which celebrates the fun times shared while building friendships over sports and beer.

The ad builds on the light-hearted and

emerging friendship that forms between a football fan and his beer seller at the start of a new season.

Further football-themed TV spots will be unveiled through the season.

“We wanted to test it with a few team partners to understand consumer experi-ence and fan demand. Our hope is we can expand the program going forward for fu-ture seasons and incorporate with all our team partners,” explains Bud Light’s NFL marketing director Anna Rogers.

“Friendship and the NFL go hand-in-hand, and ‘Vendor’ brings to life a relatable fan experience with elements of Bud Light’s quintessential humor,” adds Andy Goeler, vice president, Bud Light.“There are few things that bring friends together more than football, and using our partnership with the NFL helps us to tell Bud Light’s friendship story in a meaningful way through not only our creative, but innovations like the Touchdown Glass. We’re looking forward to another great NFL season.”

CommentThe objective of the interactive glasses

is to leverage the brand’s sponsorship sta-tus through the internet-of-things trend in a way that seeks to keep fans engaged with the brand and the experience of watching live games.

Plus, it is also a pretty easy sports drinking game.

Bud Light, which has been the official beer of the NFL since 2011, is reported to have spent $1.4bn to extend its sponsorship through to 2022 – so ongoing engagement is vital to maximising the value of this new deal.

This is an obvious internet-of-things next step from the sister brand’s Bud-weiser’s award winning ‘Red Lights’ NHL hockey initiative which dates back to 2013 and, to be honest, we are surprised it has

54

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

taken them so long to extend the concept to the USA’s biggest sport.

Budweiser isn’t the only NFL sponsor using mobile technology in new ways to activate around the new season.

Brands such as Tostitos and Pepsi are utilis-ing mobile apps and Snapchat in their activation, while other popular partner leverage tactics for the new season range from augmented reality and original programming on social media, to real-time in-stadium engagement.

Teams themselves are getting in on the act too.

Franchises including the Atlanta Falcons, Den-ver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers have all launched new mobile promotions for fans this season.

This reflects the NFl’s wider evolution of con-sumption.

indeed, this season marks the first time that every NFL game will be available in some form of online media (including Amazon Prime’s new 10-game streaming rights package), as well as the traditional broadcast deals with CBS, NBC, ESPN and the league’s own NFL Network cable channel.

It was in November 2015 that Anheuser-Busch InBev renewed its sponsorship deal with the NFL ensuring that Bud Light will remain the league’s official beer through to the 2022 Super Bowl.

Bud Light has held the status since 2011 when it paid $1.2bn to replace Coors Light as the league’s lager and the new deal is reported to be worth $1.4bn.

While the sponsorship does not prevent oth-er beer brands from advertising with the league and its broadcasters, only Bud Light can use the NFL shield in its ads and use all 32 NFL team lo-gos on its cans.

The deal expands Bud Light’s presence across league events and sees it serve as the pre-senting sponsor of ‘Thursday Night Football’ and as a sponsor of the NFL draft and the NFL’s sea-son opening kickoff game.

The partnership package also sees Bud Light be the first NFL sponsor permitted to use game

highlight footage on its website and social media pages – no small benefit considering football fans thirst for video content.

The extension comes amidst slipping Bud Light sales: whilst it has been the USA’s No1 beer in since 2008, its volumes have dropped by more than 10% since then as, along with other gi-ant beer brands, it loses ground to independent ‘craft beers’.

55

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

‘Goldie’XXXX

Cricket Australia

Being awarded a ‘Baggy Green’ cap is the ultimate honour and ambition for all Australian

cricketers and ‘XXXX Gold’ is leveraging this iconic national symbol by introducing a tech-enabled ‘Goldie’ cap. The Castlemaine Perkins beer (owned by Japanese company Lion) is activating its new Cricket Australia

sponsorship with an internet-of-things initiative that gives away Goldies to those who buy

specially-marked XXXX Gold packs. The tech-enabled Australian/brand gold coloured cap aims to reward fans for coming together and supporting the team across Australia during

the upcoming Magellan Ashes Series.

57

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

Using an on-pack code, consumers can use an app to pair their smartphone to their goldie: the cap itself contains a miniature iBeacon in the lin-ing which can detect other in-range goldies.

Throughout the season, XXXX is challenging Goldie wearers to link up to increase their chanc-es of winning one of 6000 cricket-related prized with a value of more than $350,000.

The prizes include LG TVs, Qantas flight vouchers, official merchandise and other cricket items such as Ashes tickets and VIP match day experiences.

The more Goldies in one place, the higher the chance of winning: so the bigger the cricket party BBQ, the bigger the prize.

XXXX Gold will give fans wearing a Goldie the chance to win $10,000 if they catch a six dur-ing the Australian Men’s Test matches and One-Day Internationals.

This is an incentive for thousands of fans wear Goldies to the stadium to watch the Ashes – thus generating in-stadium brand visibility.

In late September the partner announcement was made: promoted by a PR push andd debut social spot linked to cricketer Q&A.

A week later the Goldie was launched by former Australian cricketer and XXXX Gold am-bassador Adam Gilchrist on the brand’s YouTube channel and on Cricket Australia’s channel too.

This was followed by a ‘How To Connect With Your Mates’ spot, a ‘How To Pair Your Goldie’ vid-eo, and a ‘How To Register’.

The initiative was also promoted on the beer brand’s Facebook page.

“Cricket is about more than just the players. It’s about the fans that head out to the Test, play cricket at the beach or get together with their mates at home to watch the match,” Gilchrist said.

“The Goldie has been created to unite these fans over their favourite sport and make them feel part of the Ashes this summer.”

“We thought doing something big for the fans was a great way to kick off the season,” added XXXX Gold marketing manager Richard Knight.

“Launching the Goldie is all about giving Aus-

sies more joy in coming together over cricket .“Whether you’re playing cricket with your

mates in the backyard or sitting in the stands –the Goldie is going to take the experience to the next level.

“Partnering with Cricket Australia was a nat-ural fit for us, especially given that XXXX GOLD has long been a supporter of cricket.

“We’re stoked to be back as the beer spon-sor of the Australian cricket team and encour-age Aussies to get together with their family and friends under the Aussie sun and celebrate the season ahead.”

CommentA fun idea that links the brand to the prop-

erty and also links fans via collective support.It may even lead to TV commentators dis-

cussing why the stands are filled with fans wear-ing XXXX brand gold throughout the Ashes.

Although consumers do need to sign up for SMS and email alerts when they register a Goldie account: so there is the potential for the activa-tion leading to a stream of marketing email spam.

An Australian Ashes summer always brings funky, innovative beer brand activations.

Previous series have seen work ranging from Victoria Bitter (VB) beer fridges and wi-fi score-board radios, to interactive bobble heads and getting fan names on team shirts.

Indeed, back in 2011 VB even bought the whole country of Australia a round after promis-ing to do so if England won that year’s Ashes..

The ‘Goldie’ continues this tradition: it re-minds us of NZ beer sponsor Tui’s brilliant ‘Catch A Million’.

What next? A wi-fi enabled cable knit classic cricket jumper for the next Ashes in England?

58

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

59

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Best Practice Case Studies

‘Various’Creative ShowcaseCampaign Snapshot

Casillero Del Diablo & Man UtdChampagne Carbon & F1

Jacob’s Creek & Australian OpenHardy’s - Cricket Australia

Bundaberg Rum & Fox Sports + NRLCorona & World Surf League

Ballantines & Ryder CupSingha & Chelsea FC

Budweiser & Super Bowl SpotBudweiser & New York Yankees

Michelob Ultra 2017 Super Bowl SpotHeineken & F1

61

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Creative Showcase

Casillero del Diablo & Manchester United

Champagne Carbon & Formula One

Jacob’s Creek & Australian Open

Hardy’s & Cricket Australia

62

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017> Creative Showcase

Bundaberg Rum & Fox Sports / NRL

Corona & World Surf League

Ballantines & Ryder Cup

Singha & Chelsea FC

63

Sector Activation Report: Drinks (Alcohol) - December 2017 > Creative Showcase

Budweiser 2017 Super Bowl Spot

Budweiser & New York Yankees

Michelob Ultra 2017 Super Bowl Spot

Heineken & F1

64

get the most aCtiVatiVe thinking 365 days a year

Subscribe to Activative for year round access to case studies, news and views focusing on activa-tion excellence, innovative leverage strategies and effectiveness

Activative brings daily inpsiration and learning to your sports marketing / rights-holder / sponsor-ship team. Between our flagship ‘Source’ online intelligence tool, our curated 24/7 digital ‘Platform’ magazine and our ‘Insight’ briefing reports, we connect the dots between game-changing creative

activation, sponsorship objectives and real-world results.

Want a demonstration, presentation or more information? Email us at contact@activative.co.uk

65

© Activative Ltd, All rights reserved

For more information about Activative

please contact Jeremy Edwards at:

> jeremy.edwards@activative.co.uk,

> T +44 (0)20 8144 5345

> M +44 (0)78 1841 6572

> www.activative.co.uk

Subscribe to activative >

To subscribe to Activative’s tripartite - Source, Insight & Platform - spon-sorship and sports marketing activation/leverage insights and intelligence service for a year simply fill out the following form and send it to the con-tact details below, or go to our website at www.activative.co.uk:

Name: ...........................................................................................................................

Position: ....................................................................................................................... Company: ................................................................................................................... Email: ............................................................................................................................

Tel: ..................................................................................................................................

Adress: .........................................................................................................................

> Group License Tier One: Up to 25 users = £2,000.00 > Group License Tier Two: 26-50 users = £2,750.00

> Group License Tier Three: 51-100 users = £3,250.00

* Tick appropriate box

Simply sign below Signature: ...............................................................................................................

and then scan and return this page by email:

jeremy.edwards@activative.co.uk

or post to

Activative LtdNew Hibernia HouseWinchester WalkLondon SE1 9AG

Then Activative will be in touch to activate your service.

66

WWW.aCtiVatiVe.Co.Uk