We couldn’t let that happen. So, we created the Natty Light Worldwide Commencement: the first-ever graduation ceremony hosted LIVE and exclusively on social media. We partnered with a curated selection of actors, musicians and entrepreneurs, from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to actors Adam Devine and Jane Lynch.

The commencement was hosted LIVE with influencer Amanda Cerny across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. All partners were simultaneously activated across social before, during and after the activation to maximize attention.

Our owned/earned strategy was spread over three months, culminating in over 300 articles, 900MM impressions and surpassing all Natty Light benchmarks for social media engagement. It was our BIGGEST activation ever, outside of a new product launch. On top of that, we did it FIRST. We were out of the gates immediately when the news broke and beat many bigger celebrities and media brands to the punch (sorry, Oprah)

Brand context

Natural Light (better known as Natty Light) is a value beer from the United States, vying for attention in a highly competitive sector of the alcohol industry. 

For us, big budget media campaigns are not a reality, so finding true consumer insights and activating them effectively through PR and social is the path to  owning conversation, earning attention and garnering success.

Natty Light hones in on the toughest challenges our fans face, from college (21+ y/o) through to graduation and life transitions into the real world.

Creative strategy

Natty Light exists to infuse fun into an overly serious world. We have a very simple core creative idea: Life is serious, Natty isn’t.

Through this core creative idea, we ideate against three brand tenants:

Our creative approach scrapes consumer research and conversation to uncover topical, relevant and trending conversations through which the brand can add value via a platform, solution or opportunity. 

It’s led us to developing a strong identity as THE brand that steps in to help and support college graduates (over 21+) through a series of campaigns touching on employment, internships, college debt and more.

Insight

As the pandemic infiltrated every facet of America
n life in March and April, a crushing reality set in for the Class of 2020: all college commencement ceremonies scheduled for May would need to be postponed or cancelled. A commencement is not only an inspiring opportunity to send graduates off into the adult world with ideas of confidence, encouragement and courage - but also a celebratory culmination of years of hard work, great memories and an extraordinary life experience.

Natty wants you to make memories and celebrate epic moments with your friends - so the idea of this pinnacle moment being taken away from the Class of 2020 was something we couldn’t stand for. 

Idea

Colleges nationwide are cancelling commencements because of the COVID-19 health crisis, and as a result, seniors will be missing out on the graduation ceremony they have been working hard for these past few years. 

So, Natty Light announced it would rally behind the Class of 2020 to host the world’s first digital commencement ceremony, streamed LIVE on social media and packed with actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and creatives to ensure seniors got the send off they deserved from a collection of inspiring, uplifting individuals that they truly wanted to hear from.

Execution

The Natty Light Worldwide Commencement for the Class of 2020 was live streamed across Natty Light Facebook, instagram and Twitter on May 7 - the peak period when graduation ceremonies typically take place across the United States.

We secured an extensive roster of speakers across a broad spectrum of fields. We were single-minded on partnering with a collection of individuals that had resonance and notoriety with our core consumer: the 21+ college graduate. All speakers, outside of the keynote, were given special honorary doctorates from Natty Light to mirror the format of a real college ceremony. In fact, we reflected as many facets you would expect to find in a real commencement in the digital space - from the procession to the ‘end of year highlights package’ to the honor roll!

The final list of speakers included Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, actress Jane Lynch, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini, rapper Ludacris, reality star Shep Rose and UFC ring girl Arianny Celeste. The keynote speech was delivered by actor Adam Devine, and we featured two musical performances from rapper Machine Gun Kelly (who debuted a new track live with Natty Light) and Dashboard Confessional. We even had an appearance from instafamous meme account - Dude With Sign.

All speeches and performances were filmed remotely, with partners creating content from their homes, decks, pools, gardens, music studios and more. Then, it was broadcast live as part of our stream.

As with any ceremony, a host was crucial to proceedings so we worked closely with TikTok and YouTube star Amanda Cereny - going live from a custom-built podium made from Natty Light packaging. In addition to broadcasting the commencement from our own brand handles, Amanda also broadcast the full experience to her 25M followers on Instagram.

We included an element of interactivity with the commencement to ensure this felt ownable to the Class of 2020. Any participant over 21 was able to pre-register for the chance to have their name read live by some of our speakers, as well as go in with a chance to win a supply of Natty Light for a year (...you are graduating from college after all, so time to celebrate!)

And, just like a real commencement, we had traditional graduations gowns and caps available for purchase so you can truly celebrate in style from your home.

Results

This was Natty Light’s most successful earned and digital campaign ever (excluding new product launches). It successfully garnered the attention and conversation of our core consumers at a highly competitive time as more brands than ever pivoted to digital.

All celebrity and influencer partners spread the word of their involvement via social media, equating to almost 50MM impressions across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Organic social media impressions totaled 5.3M, with an extra 23.2M via paid to equal a whopping 77.4M in total. Total engagement on social throughout the program reached 374K.

The campaign secured 326 earned media placements across the USA, equating to 960MM monthly PR impressions. The coverage results included a number of ‘firsts’ for the brand, including The New York Times, Complex, Entertainment Tonight, Vulture, Bossip and Hollywood Reporter.

A vast amount of coverage also connected the commencement to our broader creative and consumer strategy, referencing and linking to other executions around College Debt, Diploma Rental Service or our famous Natty Internship program.