Bud Light has pretty much been the Forrest Gump of sports marketing these days. It’s everywhere. Think of a sports moment within the last two years, and try to argue that Bud Light didn’t capitalize on it. Super Bowl? They wrote “Dilly Dilly” in the sky and gave the team a statue. The Browns winning one game? They treated the city of Cleveland to free beers to celebrate ending the biggest dry spell since the Dust Bowl. There were “Dilly Dilly” items at the Masters. Bud Light had a great World Cup promotion, too.
The Washington Capitals’ Stanley Cup win? They were a little delayed, but Bud Light managed to squeak in a pretty clever promotional campaign in time for the start of the season.
The thing that’s funny about the Washington Capitals is that they can drink, man. If nothing else, Alexander Ovechkin proved that he can party enough for the whole team. But he had some help from other guys, like T.J. Oshie, who celebrated the win by pulling his jersey over his head, chugging a nice cold (we’re assuming it’s cold) Bud Light through the shirt and then dumping some on his head.
T.J. Oshie is on top of the world pic.twitter.com/eB866UXJEN
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 12, 2018
What better micro-moment for Bud Light to capitalize on? It’s practically tailor made for a promotion. So Bud Light is giving out commemorative T-shirts that have a special message printed on the inside, for when Caps fans feel like channeling their inner Oshie and chugging a beer through their shirt. (We’ve heard people swear that drinking through cloth cures hiccups, so this might be a pretty good idea, actually.)
.@Capitals fans, there’s nothing quite like pulling a championship jersey over your head and drinking a Bud Light through it. A close second, you can pull this shirt over your head and take a drink of Bud Light through it! Pick yours up at bars during this week's rematch game. pic.twitter.com/9EEYmEyX9T
— Bud Light (@budlight) October 8, 2018
The reason it took Bud Light so long, as opposed to the pomp that came immediately after the Eagles’ win, is that the Caps are playing the Vegas Golden Knights this week, the team they beat in the Stanley Cup back in June.
According to NBC Sports, the shirts will be available at bars in the D.C. area before tomorrow’s game. The D.C. metro area will definitely be down to party. And, thanks to Bud Light, there will no doubt be hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures on Instagram and Twitter of Caps fans imitating Oshie’s celebration.
And, for Bud Light, that’s really what’s important.
For those who don’t want to lift up their shirt to drink every sip, the actual print on the front of the shirt is pretty timeless. It’s your standard commemorative T-shirt, just with a fairly prominent Bud Light logo on the bottom. So, it’s a win-win for hard-partying and more responsible fans alike
And it’s just more evidence that Bud Light is the team to beat when it comes to thoughtful promotional products in sports.
