When baseball’s golden boy Shohei Ohtani smashed through some of the LED lights advertising Coors Light Stadium, the brand used a nimble strategy to seize the moment and it became a home run.
The International Andy Awards, in partnership with the New York Advertising Club, presents the annual Brave Brand Award, which recognizes companies that take risks in marketing.
This year, Coors and independent creative agency Rethink are being honored for their success in turning broken outdoor advertising into viral moments with speed and creating a new kind of sports sponsorship.
In the crowded field of sports marketing, brands often spend millions of dollars for the chance to stand out. But in the summer of 2023, Coors Light found itself in a unique position. This means they have the opportunity to create instant sports marketing moments without the need for paid media spend or big checks to garner support.
Powered by AI
Explore FAQ
In fact, the moment that launched one of the brand’s most memorable campaigns was completely unplanned. In late August last year, a foul ball from baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani (then playing for the Los Angeles Angels) destroyed the brand’s LED-lit advertising pixels at Citi Field. The result is the image of a distinctive silver Coors Light can with a black box floating above the brand logo.
Where some brands might have been perplexed, Coors Light and its distributor Rethink saw an opportunity. What followed was the “Lights Out” campaign, a study in the quick thinking and creative agility that turns fleeting moments into viral sensations.
Seize the moment of knockout
Coors and Rethink wasted little time in jumping on the opportunity. “Shohei gave us rocket fuel by breaking advertising. We just needed a spark,” says Aaron Starkman, global chief creative officer at Rethink. “If something happens that is culturally relevant and fits your brand in a meaningful way, and it’s something that your brand can leverage, then that’s a good thing to work on.”
The team decided to focus primarily on images of the moment: broken pixels. Instead of putting Ohtani at the center of the campaign drive, the black square became the centerpiece of a campaign that embraces imperfection. “Shohei’s foul ball and the initial attention it received allowed him to avoid an expensive media pursuit,” Starkman explains.
That was an unusual approach. While many brands may have tried to downplay the incident, especially without official support from Ohtani, Coors Light chose a different path. With an adaptable and nimble approach, images of Coors Light decorated with black squares quickly flooded social media feeds and appeared on billboards and digital ads around Angel Stadium. And within 48 hours, Rethink designed and launched a special edition Coors Light can featuring a black rectangle with erased pixels from the Citi Field ad.
At Rethink, quick reactions to the moment are a natural fit for the agency’s ethos. “At Rethink, we believe in a ‘go and grow’ approach, meaning we send out something simple like a social post that summarizes the ‘big idea’ and once it takes off, we run it multiple times. “In a nutshell, consumers tell us everything we need to know about further development,” he explains. I will.
The simplicity of the idea made it easy for Molson Coors to greenlight further executions without the need for extensive research or lengthy decision-making. According to Mr. Starkman, an operational key was to avoid long meetings. “This entire campaign happened because Molson Coors and Rethink acted as one team,” he said. The team communicated primarily through phone calls, group texts, and Slack messages and was able to move with the speed needed to catch the wave of the virus.
Turning a black square into a global phenomenon
The unconventional approach paid off big. The limited edition cans sold out online within 24 hours. Fans in Ohtani’s home country of the United States and Japan embraced the campaign, adding black squares to Coors Light cans and merchandise when the special cans sold out. The original broken panel itself became a memento, selling for more than $7,000 in an online auction. On the other hand, mentions of the campaign on social media reflected 100% positive sentiment.
Newsletter recommended for you
daily briefing every day
Check out the most important news of the day, handpicked by our editorial team.
This week’s ad Wednesday
See last week’s best ads all in one place.
The Drum Insider Once a month
Learn how to pitch to editors and get published in The Drum.
So why did the “Lights Out” campaign resonate so strongly with viewers? Starkman’s view is simple. “Beer should be fun,” he says. “At the end of the day, baseball fans saw a beer brand make light of a negative moment and have a sense of humor about it.” What many brands would have considered a negative moment By embracing Coors Light, Coors Light was perceived as a self-aware, playful quality that fans loved.
Another reason for the campaign’s success was its organic nature. Unlike other brands that spend millions of dollars to raise their profile during sporting events, this brand cleverly infiltrated the conversation. Ohtani’s foul ball was an unplanned moment for sponsors, but Coors Light still tended to outsell Budweiser, MLB’s official beer partner, at the height of the campaign.
In the end, the results of the campaign spoke for themselves. Beyond can sell-outs and viral buzz, Coors Light has successfully established itself as a beer brand that can keep pace with today’s rapidly changing world of sports. And what started as an unscripted moment at a baseball stadium quickly evolved into a global phenomenon, proving that even broken ads can create winning campaigns.
Starkman says, “You don’t need a huge budget to do a good job.” Sometimes all you need is a foul ball and a broken pixel.
For more information, sign up for The Drum’s daily newsletter here.