Coors Light's Out

Agency: Rethink
Client: Coors Light

What could have been an otherwise embarrassing episode ended up making sports advertising history when Shohei Ohtani, the greatest player in baseball, broke a Coors Light ad with a foul ball, leaving a black square of dead pixels on the can.

Within 48 hours, Coors Light turned the broken ad into a special edition can - by simply leaving it right where it was. A commemorative series of cans was released, selling out in under 24 hours, prompting fans to start making their own.

Promotion continued via an innovative use of outdoor media, with the same black square added to all existing media placements, including the local OOH in the Anaheim area and the broken ad was also run during a live game on every screen inside Angel Stadium.

As momentum gathered, Coors Light became the most requested beer in Japan, inspiring the brand to bring it to the country for the first time. With $0 in sponsorships or endorsements, Coors Light had leveraged the star power of baseball’s premier athlete thanks to one broken outdoor ad.