Pickleball made it to one of the grandest sporting spectacles of recent history—sort of.
Thanks to Anheuser-Busch, pickleball was highlighted for all the world to see via a one-minute advertisement for Michelob Ultra that was shown during Super Bowl 59 on Monday, 10 February, in Asia.
The ad features renowned actors Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara hustling celebrities in pickleball to get their fill of—what else?—Michelob Ultra. Dafoe is well-known for playing The Green Goblin in the Spider-Man franchise and some of cinema’s most intimidating villains. O’Hara, on the other hand, is a Golden Globe winner and a respected actress.
Other sports stars in the surprisingly entertaining spot are retired NFL great Randy Moss, WNBA superstar Sabrina Ionescu, and shot put Olympic champion Ryan Crouser. Pro picklers Hunter Johnson, Parris Todd, Jaume Martinez Vich, and Emily Cederquist are also in the commercial.
Watch the spot here:
Why This Matters for Pickleball
Super Bowl ad spots are a premium, with 30-second spots reportedly selling for at least $7 million. The high price is well-warranted, of course, as the Super Bowl reaches an audience of 100 million people all at once. It’s why some of the world’s biggest brands are willing to break the bank just to get a spot.
That Anheuser-Busch spent millions to buy a Super Bowl ad isn’t surprising. What might be a bit of a shock is that they actually centred their Super Bowl commercial around pickleball. Though on second thought, it might be a stroke of marketing genius. After all, pickleball is the world’s fastest growing sport, and it’s probably a good idea to leverage that meteoric growth.
In many ways, therefore, this Super Bowl ad is yet another proof that pickleball really is making its mark. And it’s only getting started.
