// Budweiser - King of the Cubano
Playing Ball with Niche Communities
Budweiser is the King of Beer, but the saturation of brands and alternate options have diluted Bud’s undisputed reign as America’s game time brew. How could Budweiser leverage its partnership with Florida MLB teams to regain its crown and forge new connections with evolving communities in the Southeast?
Sparking a New American Rivalry
WOW MKTG was game. Our team proposed creating a friendly rivalry between the Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays fans. The prize at stake – bragging rights for which city has the best Cuban Sandwich. Like Philly’s famous Cheesesteak or a New York slice, the Cuban Sandwich is close to the hearts of both Miami and Tampa residents. Each city lays claim to their hometown variation being better and/or more authentic than the other. We stoked the debate with an all-out intercity competition, positioning Budweiser as the perfect pairing for either city’s Cubano.
Our "King of the Cubano" campaign combined an online competition website, event marketing, social media, influencer engagement, public relations, and the MLB partnership to ignite the rivalry. Fans squared off at in-game and on-premise tasting events in Miami and Tampa, sampling both cities’ Cuban Sandwiches and placing their votes through ambassadors, or online through hashtag-driven social posts. Media and influencer relations efforts paired with media messaging to fuel the buzz.
Hitting it Out of the Park
The rivalry took form as fans from each team celebrated their city and sandwich. Team social accounts, mascots, sportscasters, social influencers, and even each city’s mayor participated in the debate. The bilingual campaign hit a home run with baseball fans and foodies in both markets, garnering more than two million impressions, and more than 11,000 thousand votes cast online. Miami was crowned the first-ever “King of the Cubano" winning by a narrow margin. Budweiser was the real MVP, by establishing a connection and driving affinity with new Latino audiences in the Southeast region.
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