Pro Wrestling legend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was known for crushing macro beers after dropping his opponents with his signature move, the Stone Cold Stunner, in the late 1990s, and even drove a Coors Light delivery truck to the ring to hose down rival The Rock and the circuit’s ruling family, the McMahons.
Two decades after Stone Cold’s reign, a major beer company is finally forming a tag team with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Constellation Brands and WWE this week announced a partnership to make Mexican import brand Victoria the “Official Beer of SummerSlam,” the wrestling promotion’s second largest event of the year slated for August 2021 (an official date and location, and whether fans will be in attendance, have not yet been announced).
In addition to the SummerSlam sponsorship, Constellation Brands’ Corona and Modelo import labels will be featured in “multimedia elements encompassing various WWE events and touchpoints.” WWE broadcasts weekly shows on the USA Network (Monday Night Raw and NXT) and FOX (Friday Night SmackDown), as well as monthly live events on its subscription streaming service, the WWE Network.
“We are thrilled to feature multiple brands from our beer portfolio with this WWE partnership, including a dedicated activation with Victoria beer,” Rene Ramos, VP of field, lifestyle and experiential marketing at Constellation Brands, said in a press release. “Victoria consumers are huge fans of WWE action and its Superstars so we can’t wait to be a part of SummerSlam and other activations throughout the year.”
“This integrated partnership will provide Constellation Brands the opportunity to leverage the personalities of our larger-than-life Superstars, the massive appeal of SummerSlam, and the incomparable reach of the WWE brand,” added John Brody, WWE Executive Vice President, Global Head of Sales & Partnerships.
The SummerSlam sponsorship will include activations across WWE’s platforms, as well as a match sponsorship during the live event — which streams via the WWE Network — and segment sponsorship during the event’s kickoff show.
Victoria will also partner with a WWE Superstar “brand ambassador” on appearances and social media marketing, a cross-platform campaign across WWE’s digital and social platforms, retail activations and more.
Pro wrestling in the U.S. has been an untapped opportunity for “official beer” sponsorships, and boasts a strong following among Hispanic consumers. WWE is also the home promotion of one of the most popular Latino wrestlers of all time, Rey Mysterio, who would be a natural fit for promoting Constellation Brands’ Mexican import brands.
In an email to Brewbound, Ramos declined to reveal the brand ambassador, but said the company is “finalizing a deal to bring a notable and authentic WWE talent together with this partnership that will piledrive home our messaging.”
“We are excited to share that news in the coming weeks,” he said.
In Mexico, Victoria, which is the No. 2 beer brand, has a long history of sponsoring lucha libre in the country, Ramos said. In the past, the Victoria logo has graced ring mats in the AAA Lucha Libre league. However, the Victoria logo won’t grace the WWE’s canvas, ring posts, barricades and video boards, which have largely remained ad free, Ramos confirmed.
Nevertheless, Ramos said the WWE partnership is an “authentic” one for the brand and “contemporizes it for our Hispanic consumers in the United States.”
“When you look at the stats on WWE, they have a near 20% Hispanic fanbase, they’re the No. 4 ranked cable program among U.S. Hispanics and have some of the most passionate and engaged fans across entertainment platforms,” he said. “These fans watch WWE, follow their Superstars and get together to order their pay-per-view events. And they drink beer while they’re doing all this.
“So the opportunity to engage with such a strong fanbase with our Victoria brand that legitimately has a history with wrestling and our Mexican Hispanic consumers’ heritage is a no brainer,” he continued. “We’re excited to engage with not only the WWE’s Hispanic fanbase but also effectively reach the broader WWE fanbase in the process to introduce them to Victoria.”
Ramos told Brewbound that “a random run-in” with WWE chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon three years ago at the Corona Jimmy V Gala opened up the lines of communication between the two companies. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most live sporting and entertainment events, except for pro wrestling events, including WWE’s signature annual event, WrestleMania, Constellation reached out to the wrestling organization to see if they “could mobilize in less than seven days to help us drive and promote Modelo’s #FirstRespondersFirst charitable efforts,” Ramos said.
“They were able to integrate Modelo’s messaging with four of their Superstars as a lead up into the event and a custom Modelo #FirstRespondersFirst spot into the broadcast reaching millions,” he said. “This sparked ideas about how we could use their reach to help our Victoria brand breakthrough and engage not only with our strong Hispanic base of Victoria drinkers but with the broader WWE audience.
“When we met with WWE to talk to them about Victoria, they were excited about the possibilities of taking a brand that had so much equity with Hispanic consumers and using it to strengthen their engagement with their Hispanic fanbase while also introducing it to a wider audience via one of their tentpole events,” he added.
Year-to-date through September 6, dollar sales of Victoria Lager are down 7%, to nearly $15.5 million in the convenience store channel, according to market research firm IRI.
Constellation’s other sponsorships in the U.S. sporting world have included the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and Rams and Las Vegas Raiders. The company also sponsors numerous global soccer events, and has agreements with various Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association franchises.
Among those deals, Modelo boasts partnerships with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Brooklyn Nets and MLB’s Chicago White Sox. Corona’s partnerships include the U.S. Open, Ohio State University, the University of Texas and the NFL’s New York Jets. Pacifio is linked to action sports, including U.S. Ski and Snowboard and the X Games.