Every year on April 15th, the Jackie Robinson Day is commemorated. On that day, all players, coaches, and managers on every team, and the umpires, wear #42 (Robison’s uniform number) on their jerseys. 2019 is the year his 100th birthday is celebrated. The brand’s challenge was to honor Jackie Robinson’s legacy in a way that showed that the importance of such a relevant figure goes way beyond his sport and his times.

To honor Jackie Robinson’s legacy Budweiser created a powerful film directed by Spike Lee. The film draws a parallel between the late forties and the present times, delivering an impactful message about diversity and inclusion.

The strategy to show the importance of Jackie Robinson’s legacy was creating an impactful film that translated what Jackie’s struggle meant in the forties and still means nowadays. In order to do that, the film draws a parallel between those times and the present day, delivering a powerful message. To direct the film, no one better than Spike lee, who always discussed diversity and inclusion in his work.

We did an event on March, 25th, and had in the same room, Budweiser and activists that could share their thoughts on the importance of JR for the America. In the same day, our JR42 bottles were there, celebrating our icon in the launching event. Just after the press conference, we released the story to a wide media, from sports to advertising, social responsibility.

The campaign to celebrate Jackie Robinson’s 100th anniversary instantly created an impact, being commented in big media channels, such as Forbes, Fast Company, Adweek, CNBC and many others. Connecting our brand to the baseball domain and, at the same time, reviving such and important history related to diversity and inclusion generated more than 600 million successful impressions, the key message was included 99% of the time, there were 64 PR placements and, after all, public sentiment about the campaign 95% positive.