Catching Customer Engagement on Baseball’s Opening Weekend

Play ball!

The 2025 Major League Baseball season kicked off last week as fans flocked to stadiums to cheer on their favorite teams.

It’s a momentous day fans look forward to every year. But before the first pitch was thrown, Coors Light saw an opportunity to get in the game by launching its “Obstructed Brews” campaign.

The promotion offers a free beer to fans at opening-day games with a less-than-ideal view, whether it’s a concrete pillar, a foul pole, or an overhang deck blocking the action. Fans with bad seats could upload a picture of their obstructed view to a microsite. If Coors Light’s AI tool deemed it “less-than-chill,” fans were rewarded with a free beer.

As Coors Light VP of Marketing Marcelo Pascoa put it, “if you’re chill enough to sit in one of these seats, you deserve a chill brew.”

Getting in the Game

The campaign is a smart way for the brand to insert itself into the action of opening day. By identifying a problem faced by its customers and offering a solution, Coors Light makes itself top of mind for thirsty attendees.

It also provides a digital touchpoint for customers to engage with the brand. Customer engagement is a key measure of marketing success considering its proven ability to foster loyalty, drive repeat purchases and enhance brand perception among customers.

Inserting brand messaging in clever ways throughout the promotion provides the campaign with some extra juice.

Beer and sports have gone hand-in-hand for decades, and big alcohol brands are no stranger to generating buzz with game-day campaigns.

After the Philadelphia Eagles won their first championship in 2018, Bud Light gave out free beer to Super Bowl parade attendees. In 2023, Coors Light released a limited edition beer can with a black square on it resembling the in-stadium Coors Light advertisement damaged by a foul ball from superstar hitter Shohei Ohtani.