Michelob ULTRA • Global Creative Platform

For those who are competitors on the court, but best friends in the bar.
We aim to up-the-ante, one Michelob ULTRA at a time 🍻

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The Context:
Beer is facing its toughest market conditions in a decade. Younger drinkers are choosing canned cocktails and zero-alc options, while health trends are shrinking the category.

So, what does ‘the beer for active living’ do to stay relevant in times like these?

Michelob ULTRA has had a long history being close to sport culture, but we needed a role that made our beer irreplaceable. Our challenge was to make the beer part of the game, not just the celebration after it.

The truth:
Athletes at every level share the same instinct: put something on the line, and they’ll compete.

The POV:
Make Michelob ULTRA the trophy: a prize worth playing for.

Or, more casually: Play you for an ULTRA?

The Launch:
To introduce Play You For an ULTRA?, we took friendly competition to the extreme: recruiting Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara to star in the greatest hustler film ever to hit the Super Bowl.

The Scale:
This platform extended globally across ULTRA’s biggest partnerships (including the Super Bowl, World Cup, Team USA, Olympics, Ryder Cup, NBA, PGA, and more). By giving the brand a competitive edge, ULTRA earned a role in the game itself: unlocking endless ways to activate wherever competition happens.

The Impact:
While the beer category continues to struggle, Michelob ULTRA is growing, and quickly. Since launching Play You For an ULTRA?, Michelob ULTRA has become the #1 selling beer in America.