Dos Equis said farewell to a most beloved and well-known figure, so the brand’s creative executions needed to reflect the high degree of interesting that consumers expect. Through several unique and first-to-market executions, Dos Equis provided distinct ways for consumers to deeply engage with the narrative.

Dos Equis was one of the first brands to use a custom link to Facebook’s Messenger application. Through that platform, the brand seeded out content including custom photos for fans, single serve websites and mock conspiracy sites about the Most Interesting Man’s story, a 1-800 consolation hotline, and a Chrome extension that replaced all photos with a GIF of the Most Interesting Man and headlines with unique legend lines.

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Dos Equis was the first beer brand to leverage Facebook’s Canvas ad unit. This drove to a microsite where fans could enter to win items from his Coveted Collection.

To launch the campaign and drive engagement, press exclusives were shared on social, where they quickly picked up traction. This was immediately followed by paid social support of creative assets across owned channels (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram), including exclusive content targeted to Dos Equis superfans.

The initial social buzz was followed by a one-time only TV launch during the much-anticipated final NBA match-up between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

Leading into a key selling period, the brand partnered with Rolling Stone to give a final farewell interview and exclusive cover from the Most Interesting Man in the issue released on Cinco de Mayo.

In total, the program reached 30MM+ - nearly all of our core beer drinking and distributing target.

The campaign earned 2 billion PR impressions in the first 24 hours, garnered 1,700+ media placements across every major nationally circulated news outlets in all 50 states and 3 continents. Following the launch Dos Equis posted the largest total Franchise growth for USA (+12.6%, +92K Cases); the brand’s largest for Lager since November 2014.

On Facebook, content received a record-breaking engagement rate of 40.49% - a year-over-year increase of 23.48%. Sentiment was high at 90.6% positive, and the brand’s replies per day increased by 480%. Time spent within the brand’s canvas ad was 158% higher than the average time spent watching a video post.

On Twitter, video view rate was 118% higher than the top post from 2015.

Awareness was at an all-time high, as the brand saw increased mentions by 4,711% and ‘Most Interesting Man’ mentions increased by 8,891%. A user-generated hashtag became the number one trending hashtag.

The Most Interesting Man has amassed a vast array of fans, though the brand’s core target was millennial men. In order to effectively reach and engage with this demographic, the brand activated creative across social (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram) and digital (Rolling Stone, DosEquis.com, pre-roll), sustaining authentic conversations throughout the campaign.

Strategically, launching the campaign in social first allowed for a groundswell of engagement, which was supported by mass reach on TV.

All creative assets were strategically positioned to guide consumers on a narrative journey – from accepting the Most Interesting Man’s departure, to celebrating his legacy on Cinco de Mayo.

Throughout the campaign, the brand remained true to its core values, by implementing unique responsive messaging to address public commentary and produce deeper engagement.

The Most Interesting Man in the World is going to Mars, and Dos Equis greatly leveraged social to amplify his epic farewell.

The social activations needed to create a platform to direct conversation, incite UGC and share-ability, celebrate the Most Interesting Man’s legacy, and manage the brand reputation. Given the potential reach and existing content about the Most Interesting Man in social, this piece needed to be the kick-off for the entire farewell story.

The creative needed to grab the attention of our vast millennial male target (21+) and keep sentiment overwhelmingly positive, all while the brand said farewell to a beloved character. Additionally, the brand needed to remain relevant through Cinco de Mayo – a key selling period.