Corona's second-year jersey-led experience to drive fan engagement in Mexico saw an in-stadium payment solution in year one (Jersey Pay) evolve into a national scale fan-loyalty experience for the 2022 World Cup, and new way to acquire and retain customers.

The "Beer Badge" jersey was a sponsorship play with Adidas and the Mexico National Team, a special edition jersey preloaded with Corona Beer, that helped us engage new fans at every match, drive trial (to people 18+ older), and keep them coming back to the next.

For years Corona has been engaging football fans at the Mexican league. After the success brought by the partnership with America de Mexico in 2021 to roll out Jersey Pay, a new payment solution for in-stadium fans, Corona turned their eyes to the 2022 World Cup, securing the biggest sponsorship of all: the Mexican national team.

But unlike the national league, FIFA prohibits brand or/logo placement on national jerseys. So they needed to literally redefine how sponsorships look. Engage new fans to be part of their official fan fests and most importantly, keep them coming back.

Corona "Beer Badge" Jersey:

A partnership with adidas to launch a limited-edition Mexico national team jersey, pre-loaded with Corona beer. Taking the Corona jersey experience from a convenient payment solution to an engaging fan loyalty program.

Available at every Corona Fan Fest during the World Cup, each limited-edition Jersey was activated right on the spot. An NFC chip embedded in the crest allowed fans to unlock 2 free beers with a single tap on a Point-of-sale card terminal.

Every tap after that also unlocked Corona offers (Like Beer at a discounted store price) and to keep fans coming back, Corona topped up every beer badge, every time the team played.

More than a promotional item, Corona Beer Badge becomes a fan loyalty pass

that will continue to be activated throughout the football calendar year, including international friendlies and qualifiers.

Retaining and Acquiring new Corona and Mexico loyal fans every time.

Aimed at 18YO+ from all over the country.

According to social listening, there are three key factors for football fans to fully enjoy the World Cup: experiencing the event without complications, being able to share their passion and emotions with more people, and the last, most important thing; have the official jersey that shows their passion for the national team.

With this context, we decided to turn these factors into a complete experience that would allow Corona to gain relevance with consumers by bringing the product to the badge on their jersey, an unusual space that, at the same time, offered a simple and highly beneficial way to combine their two passions: football and beer.

The idea was complemented by offering fans a space within the Fan Fest to share and shout each goal with thousands of people while they received dynamic and exclusive promotions for those wearing the jersey.

With previous experience disrupting payment methods within stadiums suing tech in jerseys using waterproof RFID tags embedded in the badge, we only needed to updated our backend system to activate and preload beer credits.

Partnering with adidas gave us scale. The jerseys were available at many adidas points of sale and at our Corona Fan Fest to ensure that the largest number of Mexicans would purchase the pre-loaded jersey.

During the tournament, Beer Badge users received alerts of special promotions being released in real-time as part of the benefits. With this data, we had the opportunity to understand the behavior of football fan consumers and deliver relevant commercial offers while giving them the chance to fully experience the World Cup.

Corona's name was not in the jersey, but it was closer than any to the heart of the fans.

Over 37.000 fans activated

87% of fans retained (coming back to Fan Fest for every match)

4:1 Return on Sponsorship

23% Lift in Beer Sales

It's projected that sales driven directly by Corona jersey experiences over the next 2 years will surpass 20MM.

Increased positive sentiment for Corona during the World Cup by 45%

800K social media conversations about Beer Badge (56% of brand buzz during World Cup)

Over 30 most important media partners talking about the innovative Corona solution

Football for Mexicans is not only a sport, but also a religion and this feeling is bigger when it comes to supporting the national team in the World Cup.

Beer is also the popular choice when it comes to viewing games at these events, with a fan drinking an average 4-5 regular size cups per match.

So, it's natural that football is a territory that multiple beer brands to try to capitalize on, especially in seasons like the World Cup where relevance is maximized.

For Corona who has been the partner in crime for this sport it is not only important to be present but to be relevant to fans with disruptive ideas while living the sport.