Michelob ULTRA Courtside

About the Work Michelob ULTRA Courtside, born of a landmark partnership with the NBA and Microsoft, was an opportunity to put leading-edge branded content that broke the mold on traditional sponsorship on one of the biggest live stages in the world. Michelob ULTRA fans could win virtual tickets to “sit” Courtside at 124 live-broadcasted games in the Orlando-based NBA Bubble. In live games and the NBA 2K20 video game alike, virtual fans became a branded backdrop and active participants central to the game narrative. An integrated campaign merged advertising and entertainment to give fans a groundbreaking, immersive experience: Groundbreaking Sponsorship & Integration: Across 81.5 million hours of NBA coverage and 13 billion impressions, higher viewership and efficient creative executions delivered 120% of budgeted goal across broadcast integrations, TVCs and digital. Digital & CRM Hub: All channels highlighted and linked fans to an on-bottle, scan-to-win Courtside ticket promotion. Over 535,000 unique fans visited the digital Courtside property, making it the most visited URL in the brand’s history and increasing the brand’s CRM database by 25%. Earned & Influencer: Courtside dominated digital headlines and influencer feeds, linking directly to the Courtside digital property, across ESPN, Bleacher Report, Today.com, Jimmy Butler, Scottie Pippen and more. These efforts led to over 2.01 billion earned influencer and media impressions, delivering 197% of the brand’s target impressions. Social Conversation: Michelob ULTRA became the #1 most talked-about brand, aside from NBA properties, with 202K social mentions (202% of the brand’s goal) during the NBA season, beating Nike. Ultimately, Michelob ULTRA’s sales grew 32%, due to the on-bottle, scan-to-win ticket promotions and soaring cultural relevance across 124 live broadcasts. Courtside became the #1 sports industry topic, lifting in all major mental availability metrics for Michelob ULTRA, including consideration (+4.3%), reach (+31%) and share of voice (+6%).