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The Shorty Awards are tonight! Itâs 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! Iâm covering the eventâwatch my tweets for an inside look. |
Todayâs 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. Letâs talk about: |
how a beer brand caught the luckiest break how Michelob capitalized with real-time marketing 3 good reads on social media + creators
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âJack Appleby |
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How Michelob Ultra went real-time marketing when âBeer Guyâ went viral |
Hold my beer, but donât hold Mark Radeticâs beer. |
The golf enthusiast was causally minding his own, watching Tiger Woods compete in the PGA championships, nursing a beer, enjoying the sunshineâwhich is why he went viral. |
 | Shooter McGavin @ShooterMcGavin_ |  |
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No cell phone. Just a man watching Tiger with a Michelob Ultra. https://t.co/f5uCAwatqW |  | | | May 21, 2022 | | |  | | | 157K Likes 7.94K Retweets 1.53K Replies |
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No one knew who Radetic was thenâjust the lone guy who didnât grab his phone to snap a pic for the âgram. Then the photo went viral & he became âBeer Guy.â |
More importantly for Michelob ULTRA, that beer can is distinctive & noticeable. As if that wasnât a lucky enough break, the brand had just launched a new campaign with the âitâs only worth it if you enjoy itâ line. Someone on the Michelob team mustâve helped a sweet old lady across the street to earn this karmic gift of an organic moment. |
Thatâs when the Michelob team and Wieden + Kennedy jumped into action for everyoneâs 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 atopâit immediately became their most-shared social post in over a year. |
I love the ingenuity here. Iâve worked at big brands that wouldâve 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 dynamicâprobably took a designer a half day at most, and likely generated better results by highlighting the original viral photo so clearly. |
 | Michelob ULTRA @MichelobULTRA |  |
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Joy is living in the moment. Take it from @TheMichUltraGuy...Drop a đș if you agree. https://t.co/VHIcRD3Siq |  | | | May 24, 2022 | | |  | | | 9.64K Likes 1.34K Retweets 317 Replies |
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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 canât not give him a t-shirt. |
What I really love about the merch moveâit actually made the brand money. In just 24 hours, these tees became Anheuser-Buschâs #1 grossing merch item of 2022. Iâve long thought smart social + product gags are an underutilized way to bring in actual $$$ to brandsâitâs worth wondering how you could pull this off at your shop. |
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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 campaignâs speedy delivery, Michelob got Mark on a plane to the next PGA tour stop just 6 days laterâhe posed for pics, hung out with fans, and continued his legacy as the embodiment of Itâs Only Worth It If You Enjoy It. |
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The Results |
A truly organic viral moment + a smart brand campaign to keep the fire burning earned some great numbers for Michelob Ultra. |
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Maybe the best number, though: $500. Thatâs all they spent, and it was all to get Mark a plane + a room to enjoy another golf day. |
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Social Cues |
Instagram is launching a Twitter competitorâhereâs a peak. I still fundamentally believe we wonât see a new follow-based social network emerge with real scale, but if anyoneâs gonna make it happen, itâs Meta. Iâll keep an eye on it, but not holding my breath. |
TikTokers are getting jobs as Social Media Directors. This is pretty smart to meâbrands just arenât nailing TikTok, so bring in people whoâve made a name for themselves. No, being an influencer isnât 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 youâll wanna use to justify increasing social spends, and a lotta interest in how AI is gonna change our industryâgive it a read. |
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Where to find me on social |
Twitter: Iâm 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: Itâs my personal lifeâa 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: Iâm dabbling in TikTok againâno 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. |
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