2021 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

INSIGHT
With only 90 calories and 3.0 carbs, Michelob Ultra stands apart from the rest of the beer category. But while its target is trying to watch what they eat and cut down on calories – 50 million people across North America are food insecure and rely on food banks to get them their next meal.

Food banks, which, already straining from demand, were suddenly faced with unprecedented strain as COVID-19 hit, and more people were forced to rely on them for support.

As a premium-priced beer, Michelob Ultra’s fitness-obsessed target was fortunate enough to be more concerned about the closure of gyms than the supply at food banks, so FCB decided to create a platform that would use people’s workout selfies to provide meals to those who needed them the most.

EXECUTION
FCB helped Michelob create “Cal for Cal” – a first-of-its-kind initiative that transformed people’s calories burned during a workout into calories of food for people in need.

The program works by tapping into a behaviour the target was already doing: tracking calories and posting workout results on social. By using the brand’s hashtag, the calories people burned during a workout were automatically donated to food banks.

To get the word out, the agency launched a campaign on social, via influencers, and with the brand’s partners at The Running Room. The team created short, eye-catching videos that depicted different workout equipment transforming into different food items to show exactly how much each workout was “worth.” Suddenly, the target could see that 36 bench presses could actually become one can of tuna for someone in need.

The shop also made sure participation was as easy as possible. For anyone with a fitness app or wearable device that tracks calories, they simply had to post their workout result to social using the brand’s hashtag. For everyone else, it harnessed the power of social media by also inviting people to submit by telling the brand what their workout consisted of in the caption of a gym selfie, and the agency used an AI-based calculation to estimate their calories burned and automatically include it in the brand’s total.

The initial launch of the program was such a success that Michelob Ultra expanded it across North America. When gyms closed, it also launched Instagram Live workouts hosted by fitness influencers – who were also largely out of work throughout COVID. All you had to do to help out your local food bank was to show up and start sweating.

RESULTS
To date, the campaign has had over 671 million impressions – and the connection the brand has fostered with the target has helped Michelob Ultra to become the fastest-growing beer in the country.

But far more importantly, engagement resulted in over 770 million calories burned – or 385,000 meals donated for those in need.

Credits

Client: Michelob Ultra
VP, Marketing: Todd Allen
Director of Marketing: Natalie Lucas
Brand Manager: Julie Grant
Brand Manager: Melisa Bayrav
Community Manager: Stella Cho
Trade Marketing Manager: Jessica Sinclair

Creative Agency: FCB Canada
Chief Creative Officers: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, Jeff Hilts
Group Creative Director: Jennifer Rossini
Associate Creative Directors: Jordan Gladman, Nimy Leshinski, Henry Park
Senior Art Director: Cody Sabatine
Senior Writer: Joseph Vernuccio
Art Director: Jerry Yang
Copywriter: Jon Dawe
Designer: Barry Mclynn
MTL Copywriter: Olivier Laplante
Chief Strategy Officer: Shelley Brown
Strategy Director: Shelagh Hartford
EVP, General Manager: Tracy Little
Group Account Director: Ravi Singh
Account Director: Alex Pente
Account Executive: Chris Flynn
MTL Accounts: Elizabeth Breault, Melisa Piro
Producer: Rachel D’Ercole, Carol Boate
Project Manager: Cori Petit, Natalie Copeland

Production Company: Fuelcontent
Executive Producer: Stef Fabich

Editing House: Fuelcontent
Editor: Vanessa DiStaulo, Kelly Armstrong, Warren Goodwin

Animation House: Fuelcontent
Studio Manager: Rosanne Woodley
Production Artist: Leslie Cuoto, Yana Zinovyeva
Proofreader: Ashleigh Smith

Media Agency: Vizeum
Associate Director: Steve White
Manager: Sam Monteiro

PR Company: Veritas
Senior Account Manager: Madeleine Barker
Senior Consultant: Madeline Geddes
Consultant: Jessica Walcot

Social Media Agency: Social Code
Team Lead: Danielle DeGrandis
Associate Account Manager: Madeleine Glouner
Media Operations Manager: Anthony Castellani

Trade: Mosaic Shopper
Director, Client Services: Mandi Courteau
Account Manager: Aaron Carley