Lionel Messi was on the verge of breaking Pele’s 46-year-old record of 643 goals for a single club. A historic sporting moment.

Moments like these represent opportunities for brands to be a part of an iconic celebration, but the challenge is to not get lost in the noise and to create something that drives the conversation, rather than merely being part of it. Budweiser wanted to raise awareness of their association with the iconic player, and own the 644 goal moment over his other brand partners by creating a voltage spike in conversation with their product at its heart.

Messi is known for his modesty. To cut through the noise, widen the campaign appeal and celebrate his success in a way synonymous with the man himself, we flipped the script by focusing on the goalkeepers who challenged him along the way. We would celebrate all 160 keepers Messi had scored against, celebrating their part in pushing Messi to greatness.

Creating 644 bottles, each personalised to the keeper it was scored against, with the goal number digitally printed and a revamped version of the Budweiser creed that includes a special tribute to the qualities that have characterised Messi’s career, the bottles were shipped across the globe for the goalkeepers to toast the man himself. This also helped deliver reach beyond one man and one club, and engaged football fans the world over.

The specially designed labels were developed using direct object printing and numbered from one to 644 to represent every goal scored in Messi’s club career to date. Budweiser’s Global Innovation and Technology Center used its in-house direct object printing capabilities to print bottles with ink and varnish applied directly to the glass to give a ‘no label’ look. The technology also handles digital embossing, giving a tactile effect.

Each one of these limited-edition Budweiser bottles was gifted to the goalkeepers Messi has scored against, including greats such as Gianluigi Buffon, David de Gea, and Jan Oblak.

The bottles, which also had a limited retail run with standard label decoration, are marked with several unique flourishes including a “Messi King of Football” tag and a revamped version of the Budweiser creed that includes a special tribute to the qualities that have characterised his monumental career.

Keepers were asking us for their bottles and they became coveted the world over.

Without any paid media support, Budweiser became the #1 most talked about drink globally over the Christmas holiday. Owning 40% of all conversation around the record, it generated 1,200+ news articles across 84 countries, with 3bn earned impressions.

With over 26m views on social media and 1m engagements, the campaign returned $20m of social media value back to the brand. Online search for Budweiser (overall) doubled on the 24th December compared to the past 30 day average.

Budweiser had 95% SOV in online articles compared to other Messi associated brands, with 30% of all articles including Budweiser in the headline. Budweiser achieved more headline news articles than adidas did total articles.

The campaign generated reaction videos and an array of memes with fans creating their own bottles, sparking its own coverage.