Cup runneth over: Inside the alcohol brands pouring marketing into soccer this year

If anyone needed an extra reason to have a drink over the summer, there’s about to be 39 days worth of World Cup matches played in North America for the first time in more than 30 years.

For advertisers, the tournament is shaping up to be essentially the Super Bowl of soccer, but even bigger. And while beverage brands have been duking it out on the Super Bowl ad stage for decades, with increasing competition in recent years, this summer, they’re taking the battle to the international stage.

“Everything we’re doing around the World Cup is going above and beyond,” Ricardo Marques, SVP of marketing for Michelob Ultra, told Marketing Brew, later adding that the tournament marks the brand’s biggest retail push in history.

Michelob Ultra isn’t the only alcohol brand going all-in on the World Cup, even during a year that’s already included an international sporting event in the Winter Olympics. For sports stalwarts like brewers and spirits brands, certain marketing tactics remain event-agnostic, but a World Cup on US soil calls for some unprecedented moves.

Summertime madness

Summer is a “key selling season” for beer brands, Marques told us, and this summer is especially important. The beer industry has experienced sales struggles in recent years as alternatives like hard seltzer, combined with consumers who drink less alcohol in general, have put downward pressure on the category. But between the World Cup and AB InBev, the biggest brewer in the world, recently reporting its first increase in sales growth in three years, things are starting to look up.

Some beer marketers are spending big in an effort to capitalize. Modelo’s World Cup campaign marks the “biggestmedia investment in brand history,” Rene Ramos, SVP of brand activation, told us; Molson Coors is also reportedly spending more media dollars on the World Cup than it has on any other live sporting event in the past decade.

With such sizable investments, some beverage brands have started activating sooner than they normally would. Ramos said his team at Modelo spent about 18 months planning for their World Cup campaign, which is about twice the amount of time as usual.

Chris Jones, VP of marketing for premium brands at Anheuser-Busch, including World Cup sponsor Stella Artois, said that while the Super Bowl is a sprint toward one day, “the World Cup is more like a marathon and a monthslong journey of building excitement.”

It’s not just beer brands making big plays for the World Cup. In the spirits category, Don Julio started teasing its tournament campaign in January, and officially debuted the effort—which links the idea of raising a toast to raising a World Cup trophy—last month. The brand is currently activating at bars and retailers, with media slated to start running in time with the tournament in June.

“It is the biggest thing that we will do on the brand this summer,” Julian Garcia, VP of Tequila Don Julio at Diageo North America, said. “Our focus is fully on activating around the World Cup.”

Channel in

The international fandom surrounding the World Cup has also led beverage marketers to shift their typical plays. By and large, World Cup campaigns are multichannel, but there’s a particular focus on in-person activations, as the tournament presents a unique opportunity to target a broad audience from around the world in one place.

“They’re here, they’re seeing the brand, the brand likely is back where they’re coming from, so it really is an opportunity to expand beyond our day-to-day consumer recruitment strategy,” Garcia said. “We are going to have eyes on the brand from folks that may not be as aware of it.”

Michelob Ultra is putting special emphasis on IRL channels, with activations like fan fests and beer gardens at host stadiums. In addition to venue activations, the brand is leaning into out-of-home media, Marques said. While that’s typical during the summer travel season, Michelob Ultra will have “even more of a presence versus a typical summer” this year, he said.

For its part, Stella Artois is focused on connecting with as many international fans as possible by honing in on the bar experience with a campaign starring David Beckham.

“We’re expecting a huge international crowd for this historic moment,” Jones said. “We know most fans won’t be in the stadium, but millions will be flooding local bars in the host cities and across the country to soak up the energy.”

Broadcast and social media ads will be just about everywhere during the tournament, too. Beverage marketers emphasized 360-degree campaigns, some involving hundreds of assets; Michelob Ultra alone is running more than 300 pieces of creative across channels, Marques told us.

(Inter)national team

Given Americans’ growing interest in international soccer and the US as a host country, Nielsen is projecting “a whole other level of momentum for the tournament,” according to its FIFA media intelligence report. While alcohol marketers tapped US stars to appeal to American fans, they weaved in talent from a range of other countries to broaden their appeal.

Don Julio’s campaign, “Made to Be Raised,” stars retired French great Thierry Henry, who helped lead France to World Cup victory in 1998, along with USWNT legends and two-time World Cup winners Christen Press and Tobin Heath. Iconic Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos, who lifted the trophy in 2002, has also appeared in Don Julio World Cup content this year.

Michelob Ultra took its tried-and-true Super Bowl approach of combining A-list actors with all-star athletes in a campaign starring Billy Bob Thornton, who attempts to order room service at a hotel that’s been taken over by American, Argentinian, Mexican, and Brazilian national teamers facing off to win a bucket of Ultras. Among the soccer stars are Christian Pulisic, Lionel Messi, and Alex Morgan.

Stella Artois went all-in on just one soccer superstar—but with David Beckham serving as a global brand ambassador, perhaps the brand will get all the appeal it needs.

Modelo’s lineup includes Brazil’s Raphinha, Mexico’s Raúl Jiménez and Edson Álvarez, and Colombia’s David Ospina for “good coverage across the board of giving that international flavor,” Ramos said.

With a multi-country athlete roster, sponsorship of all of Telemundo’s pregame broadcasts for its Spanish-language matches, and several Major League Soccer team sponsorships, Modelo, much like other alcohol advertisers, is pouring everything it can into the World Cup this summer.

“Our international soccer programming…truly is reaching in every single place that we could go,” Ramos said. “We do that on a smaller scale during college football or college basketball, but this is definitely unique.”