Bud Light debuts mobile-enabled Touchdown Glass for NFL Kickoff

Brief:

Bud Light is kicking off its yearly National Football League campaign with the debut of a Touchdown Glass that can be connected to a mobile app to light up every time a fan’s favorite team makes a scoring play. The beer brand will first hand out the glasses at today’s home-game opener between the New England Patriots, the reigning Super Bowl champs, and the Kansas City Chiefs. The glasses will be programmed to light up blue when the Pats score.
Bud Light is also selling 28,300 of the glasses at its website BudLight.com/touchdown. Fans can connect the glass at home to the Bud Light Touchdown Glass mobile app and it will light up all season long whenever their favorite team scores a touchdown. BuzzConnect, a live sports technology company, manufacturers the glasses with data provided by Stats Llc.
Patriots fans who attend the first game at Gillette Stadium in Boston also can participate in a ceremonial toast as their illuminated Bud Light Touchdown Glasses shine when the Super Bowl LI banner is unveiled for the first time.

Insight:

Bud Light, the official beer of the NFL since 2011, is leveraging the $1.4 billion it paid to the league to maintain its sponsorship through 2022 with additional promotions whose interactive features seek to keep fans engaged with the brand and the experience of watching live games. The lighted touchdown glass that can be integrated with a mobile app is a lighthearted way to help fans celebrate while reminding them to imbibe and extends typical moblie engagement beyond commenting on social media to encompass the Internet of Things.

The interactive glasses are part of a larger marketing program to activate Bud Light's NFL sponsorship that also includes new TV spots and team cans.

NFL teams are using mobile technology in new ways this season via Snapchat, augmented reality, original programming on social media and real-time in-stadium engagement, among other approaches. These efforts are an attempt at deepening engagement with football fans at a time when viewership is declining. The Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets are among the teams that have rolled out mobile-related promotions for fans.

This season, every NFL game will be available in some form of online media, the Associated Press reported. Most games that are shown on broadcast networks like CBS, Fox and NBC require a cable or satellite subscription for live streaming. ESPN, which airs “Monday Night Football,” also requires viewers to have a cable subscription to see a livestream of the game. Amazon Prime has the streaming rights to 10 games on “Thursday Night Football” that also appear on either CBS or NBC (the NFL Network cable channel also shows some of those games).