The Shorty Awards are tonight! It’s a good excuse to wear a suit, shake hands, meet smart people who made cool work. A project from my Twitch days is a finalist! I’m covering the event—watch my tweets for an inside look.

Today’s newsletter hits another Shorties Finalist: The Michelob Ultra Guy. I wrote a thread about it this week that went viral, so figured the campaign deserves some long-form love. Let’s talk about:

—Jack Appleby

How Michelob Ultra went real-time marketing when “Beer Guy” went viral

Hold my beer, but don’t hold Mark Radetic’s beer.

The golf enthusiast was causally minding his own, watching Tiger Woods compete in the PGA championships, nursing a beer, enjoying the sunshine—which is why he went viral.

No one knew who Radetic was then—just the lone guy who didn’t grab his phone to snap a pic for the ‘gram. Then the photo went viral & he became “Beer Guy.”

More importantly for Michelob ULTRA, that beer can is distinctive & noticeable. As if that wasn’t a lucky enough break, the brand had just launched a new campaign with the “it’s only worth it if you enjoy it” line. Someone on the Michelob team must’ve helped a sweet old lady across the street to earn this karmic gift of an organic moment.

That’s when the Michelob team and Wieden + Kennedy jumped into action for everyone’s favorite kind of social: real-time content.

Two-day shipping

Twitter trends like this burn bright, then fizzle fast. For Michelob to leverage the moment, the branded needed to pump out content fast.

Within 48 hours, the social team created a cinemagraph-style video out of the original photo with some clever copywriting atop—it immediately became their most-shared social post in over a year.

I love the ingenuity here. I’ve worked at big brands that would’ve thrown crazy brainstorms, tried to fly the guy in for some big expensive shoot, and totally miss the moment as we set up production. Meanwhile Michelob found a clever creative solve to make the original photo more dynamic—probably took a designer a half day at most, and likely generated better results by highlighting the original viral photo so clearly.

Merch! Merch! Merch!

One social post does not make a campaign, though. Gotta have a handful of touchpoints to fully flesh out the bit. And a legend like Beer Guy? You can’t not give him a t-shirt.

What I really love about the merch move—it actually made the brand money. In just 24 hours, these tees became Anheuser-Busch’s #1 grossing merch item of 2022. I’ve long thought smart social + product gags are an underutilized way to bring in actual $$$ to brands—it’s worth wondering how you could pull this off at your shop.

More beer for Beer Guy

When an unsuspecting person becomes an unofficial brand icon, you have to reward them well (see: Ocean Spray buying Doggface a truck). What better way to reward Mark for living in the moment than giving him an encore?

Keeping with the campaign’s speedy delivery, Michelob got Mark on a plane to the next PGA tour stop just 6 days later—he posed for pics, hung out with fans, and continued his legacy as the embodiment of It’s Only Worth It If You Enjoy It.

The Results

A truly organic viral moment + a smart brand campaign to keep the fire burning earned some great numbers for Michelob Ultra.

Maybe the best number, though: $500. That’s all they spent, and it was all to get Mark a plane + a room to enjoy another golf day.

Social Cues

Instagram is launching a Twitter competitor—here’s a peak. I still fundamentally believe we won’t see a new follow-based social network emerge with real scale, but if anyone’s gonna make it happen, it’s Meta. I’ll keep an eye on it, but not holding my breath.

TikTokers are getting jobs as Social Media Directors. This is pretty smart to me—brands just aren’t nailing TikTok, so bring in people who’ve made a name for themselves. No, being an influencer isn’t fully 1:1 to social media management, but for SMM jobs that are mostly content? This is worth trying.

Sprout dropped their 2023 State Of Social report. A lotta numbers in here you’ll wanna use to justify increasing social spends, and a lotta interest in how AI is gonna change our industry—give it a read.

Where to find me on social

Twitter: I’m writing daily Twitter threads breaking down social strategies, including examples of brands winning on TikTok. By far my most active network.

LinkedIn: more career thinking, more work/life balance, more navigating professional challenges. Love how active the comments get.

Instagram: It’s my personal life—a lot of basketball as I get myself back in shape, some kickball, music recs, movies. Little secret: IG DM is the best way to get ahold of me.

TikTok: I’m dabbling in TikTok again—no real strategy, just playing. Had a few viral hits, like the story of my youth battle against Kevin Love. Gonna try lotsa different things, see what I find most artistically fun.