2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Baseball is one of the biggest and most-watched sports in the world — which is why major brands spend millions of dollars to become official sponsors of the game and its star athletes. That includes Coors Light’s biggest competitor, who has been the official partner of Major League Baseball for over 30 years and its most visible beer sponsor. That is, until one lucky moment provided us with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hack their way into the spotlight and steal the headlines as the only beer that the world of baseball is talking about.

In a game against the New York Mets, Shohei Ohtani, the greatest player in the league (and making a case for greatest of all time), sent a screaming foul ball into the stands — smashing their Coors Light ad — resulting in a black square of broken pixels right on their can. Instead of simply fixing this embarrassing imperfection, they embraced it.

Overnight (literally), a new can design was born, an identical replica of Shohei's broken ad that included the same black square of damaged pixels in the precise spot where Shohei Ohtani made contact. To promote it, they added the black square to their existing ads, including wild postings and OOH in and around the Anaheim area as well as every screen inside Angel Stadium when Ohtani returned home from the road trip.

The idea went viral on social media immediately, and soon fans were adding their own black square to existing Coors Light cans, merch and anything with their logo. It even became a piece of baseball memorabilia, as they auctioned off the broken panel from the ad to collectors for over $7,000.

Originally launched in the U.S., their campaign quickly became a global phenomenon with media coverage in design, lifestyle and sports outlets all around the world. While generating over 140MM earned media impressions and reaching fans across the globe with 100% positive sentiment. Coors Light even became one of the most highly sought-after products in Japan, Ohtani’s home country.

Their new cans sold out in under 24 hours and, most importantly, Coors Light trended higher than the actual official beer of baseball. They did it all with $0 in sponsorships or player endorsements - breaking the mold of sports sponsorships and marketing with just one “ugly” broken ad.

Credits

Chief Creative Officer: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick
Chief Strategy Officer: Sean McDonald
ACD / Art Director: Nick Noh
ACD / Writer: Jordan Darnbrough