Michelob Ultra keeps on using the Super Bowl to take big swings in sports.
Soccer great Lionel Messi will show off fancy footwork in the Anheuser-Busch InBev beer’s latest Big Game commercial, which is slated to run during CBS’ broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11. Last year, Michelob teamed up with Netflix to highlight “Full Swing,” a documentary series that follows a group of golfers across an entire PGA Tour season. In 2024, the emphasis is on football, of course, but not necessarily the American kind.
Soccer is “approaching, I believe, what is a golden era in the U.S.,” says Ricardo Marques, vice president of marketing for Michelob Ultra, during an interview. “There is a bigger play for us as a brand in the space of soccer and we could not make that happen without having the GOAT himself be a part of that story.” He also sees the Super Bowl ad serving as “a great kickoff” to a year that will include the Paris Olympics.
Messi is joined in the Michelob Ultra spot by “Ted Lasso” actor and producer Jason Sudeikis as well as NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino. The action takes place on a beach with plenty of moves from Messi as he waits for his next glass of Michelob Ultra. The three personalities got together for the first time on the set of the commercial, says Marques, but hit it off relatively quickly.
Michelob Ultra has carved out a niche for itself as a beer for people who seek to maintain an active lifestyle, and so its Super Bowl ads in recent years have linked the beer to sports and top athletes.
But the ad uses other concepts designed to appeal, especially the beach on which all the action takes place, says Marques. “This is a lighthearted spot, fun to watch, feel-good,” he says. And then Messi, Sudeikis and Marino “help bring the entertainment value up.”