Brief:
- Michelob Ultra is offering people a chance to win golf-related prizes on Black Friday, when celebrity athletes Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley will play against Peyton Manning and Steph Curry in "The Match III" golf challenge, per information emailed to Mobile Marketer.
- To enter the sweepstakes, Michelob Ultra is asking Twitter users to reply to @MichelobUltra's tweets with the #UltraGiftOfGolf and #Sweepstakes hashtags during the televised match. Every time a player loses a ball during the match, Michelob Ultra will give away a year's supply of golf balls. If a player makes a hole-in-one, the AB InBev brand will give away a year's supply of free beer.
- As a presenting sponsor of the match, the beer brand seeks to make golf more accessible to people who have been dissuaded by "outdated traditions and high cost of entry," per the email. Turner Sports will broadcast "Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Change" on TNT at 3 p.m. ET on Nov. 27, while Bleacher Report will host an exclusive livestream on its app before and during the event, per the Professional Golf Association.
Insight:
Michelob Ultra aims to urge people to watch "The Match III" by giving them a chance to win beer and golf-related prizes with its social media sweepstakes. Because the prizes are directly related to the action on the course, Twitter users have an extra incentive to tune into the broadcast and reply to Michelob Ultra's tweets to enter the sweepstakes. As people tweet their responses, Michelob Ultra can extend the reach of the campaign among a wider group of Twitter users and boost engagement among younger consumers who use their smartphones while watching TV.
Most U.S. consumers (88%) use a second digital device such as a computer or a smartphone while watching TV, according to media researcher Nielsen. This "second-screening" activity provides brands like Michelob Ultra a way to interact with consumers during TV programming, especially live sporting events that traditionally have driven viewership of linear TV, though there are signs that fans are shifting their viewing to digital platforms amid pandemic disruptions.
Michelob Ultra's latest sweepstakes follows its prior promotional tie-in with "The Match II," a May 2020 follow-up to "The Match: Tiger vs. Phil" golf challenge that was held during Thanksgiving weekend in 2018. Reformatted as a celebrity golf event to raise money for charity, the second match pitted Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. As with its latest sweepstakes, the brand gave consumers a chance to win prizes by responding to its live-tweets during the "Caddyshack"-inspired event.
Michelob Ultra has been active this year with its digital campaigns, this month giving people a chance to star in a TV commercial by joining its "Everyone's A Runner Challenge" on social media. The brand also worked with the Canadian outlet of audio streaming platform Spotify on an effort to let runners make a personalized playlist based on their running habits. As the NBA restarted its season without fans in arenas, Michelob Ultra began hosting a digital experience to let people virtually attend basketball games. After the pandemic led to lockdowns on gyms, Michelob Ultra in April started livestreaming video workouts from its social channels to reach health-minded consumers stuck at home.