ZUZU F.C.

Last weekend, during the UCL final stoppage time, Lukaku headed the ball on Ederson’s foot instead of anywhere else toward the goal (easy for me to say, but Lukaku, com’on), allowing Man City to FINALLY win the Champions League. With that, the European season was done (although Jack Grealish isn’t done just yet, the last time I checked, he was still drunk). 

Now, the summer transfer window is open. And even before it did, we had a headline as massive as winning the Treble: Messi shook the futebol tectonic plates by announcing his move to the MLS. As cliche as it sounds, it’s the end of an era for the futebol world…and football brands. 

Because, for the last couple of decades, they were inspired by the impossible tale of the scrawny little boy leaving the slums of Rosario to La Masia and becoming the King, the Goat, the Alien…the King Alien Goat? 🙃

I could spend the totality of this blog just breaking down iconic—and dodgy—campaigns featuring the future Inter Miami number 10. For now, though, I’ll dive into one integrated campaign that celebrates the peak, statistically at least, of Lionel’s career at Barça. 

Let’s talk about “Be a King.” by Budweiser. 

Wait up. Am I talking about Budweiser? The owner-of-Bud-Lights-and-insanely-shady-judgment Budweiser? I know. They’re so hot right now. Hot as hot beer. It’s hard to believe, but there was a time when they got it right. Let’s dissect conceptually how. 

“Be a King” was a colossal integrated and responsive campaign that pays tribute to Messi’s 644th goal for Barcelona, breaking Pelé’s insurmountable record for most goals scored with a single club. 

The campaign building hype to the record-breaking goal had a pretty straight-foward approach with neat executions, utilizing every trick in the book from influencers, responsive discounts, and a partnership with rapper Dizzee Rascal. For more details, watch the video case that was probably made with hundreds of agency billable hours and multiple rounds of approvals that I can’t compete with. 

When Messi accomplished the impossible, scoring 644 goals for Barça in a match against Real Valladolid, Budweiser celebrated the moment by creating customized and numbered Budweiser bottles, one for each freaking goal, and shipped the bottles to all the goalkeepers Messi had scored against. Each keeper received their bottles in personalized packaging that included a letter from Messi himself. Some received a whole crate of them. I see you Diego Alves. 

The insight is a shift in perspective. Obviously, Budweiser wasn’t the only brand to pay tribute to this moment. While ALL the other brands were talking about the player, the beer brand turned our attention to the fact that Messi scored 644 goals on world-class goalies. Some of them were legends themselves—Neuer, Buffon, Oblak, and Kepa (well, Kepa for different reasons than the other three 🙈🙉🙊). That’s an insight rooted in futebol culture. 

No goalie would appreciate being recognized for allowing a goal except if they were part of history. They, as any regular fan, admire Messi. This is why they, as Buffon tweeted, took it as a compliment.  

To match the weight of the occasion, the brand didn’t cut corners when designing the Messi Goal bottles. An old-school etching technique was used for engraving them. The craft was off the charts and felt like a collector’s piece. It’s like a tattoo artist inked every bottle with a Messi goal. 

The whole package— idea, craft, and timing—when received by the goalies, compelling them to post onto social media, triggering the viral effect of the campaign. They spread the word to their followers, causing an explosion of media impressions and, most importantly for us humans and futebol fans, memes. 

There you have it, amigos & amigas, how Budweiser impacted culture with a fresh idea and the right tone, placing its product at the center of it all. And, as I wrap up this post, Jack Grealish is still reportedly drunk.