Michelob Goes Big Again With ‘NBA Jam’ Merch Collection, Retro Website and Pop-Up Experience at NBA All Star Game

Brendan Menapace

“From downtown!”

“He’s heating up!”

“He’s on fire!”

If these sayings mean anything to you, it’s probably because you spent some time in the ’90s playing “NBA Jam.” Now that the kids who grew up with the tag-team of Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen are old enough to drink, Michelob Ultra tapped into that nostalgia by creating an immersive in-person experience at the NBA All-Star weekend in Cleveland.

Fans could go to a special bar called “Boom Shaka Lakas” (named after the “NBA Jam” announcer’s most celebrated one-liner) for limited edition Michelob merchandise, meet-and-greets with NBA players and, of course, some Michelob Ultras.

Those who couldn’t make it to Cleveland for the in-person display can log on to EnjoyItLikeIts1993.com, a fully retro website with 8-bit graphics, old-school web fonts and a fully stocked e-commerce store.

That store has items like T-shirts, hats, jewelry and even vintage gaming consoles for controlling Hakeem Olajuwon through some gigantic dunks.

According to Marketing Dive, Michelob partially chose this ’90s theme due to the Super Bowl’s halftime show, which featured the likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige, so the retro spirit was already in the air for the sports world. Michelob decided to carry that over to the NBA All-Star Game.

Most of all, this is a good example of a promotion with a strong theme that brought together social media engagement, in-person experiential elements and e-commerce, with branded merchandise at the center of it all. Michelob already went all out with its Super Bowl ad, which included celebrity cameos, multiple commercials during the game, social media calls-to-action and a branded apparel collection.

You could say that Michelob Ultra was heating up with its Super Bowl ad, and is now on fire thanks to this NBA rollout.

Boom shaka laka.

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