The Silver Bullet got an unexpected bump from the most exciting player in baseball last season. Boardroom’s Gabe Oshin breaks down how one accidental moment returned massive marketing dividends.
@boardroom This is sports marketing of the highest order. #shoheiohtani #mlb #losangelesangels #baseball #beer #coorslight ♬ original sound – Boardroom
The year 2023 will frequently be tied to some strange moments that went down in the beer industry. Modelo overtook Budweiser as the highest-selling beer in the United States. Bud Light unwittingly stepped into some culture wars.
However, one story that will likely be lost in the mix is the time that then-Angels star Shohei Ohtani netted a major marketing win for Coors Light.
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In the Aug. 26 matchup against the New York Mets, Ohtani pulled a ball straight into an LED screen with a Coors Light ad at Citi Field. The shot knocked out some light pixels, resulting in a black spot in the top left of the can.
One savvy member of the Silver Bullet’s marketing team quickly tweeted out a replica of the image and unwittingly procured one of the best sports marketing campaigns of the season.
Using the tagline “Hits the Spot,” the Tweet took in over 1 million views and had fans clamoring for a redesign. Coors Light quickly developed some IRL merch, making $17 empty commemorative beer cans in the likeness of the knocked-out square. When the company announced the new offering, it generated an additional million impressions on Twitter. Plus, the limited-run cans sold out immediately.
Turns out that the Shohei effect has no limits, even when things are totally unplanned.
