Shot Callers Episode 2: Nick Kelly, Head of US Sports Marketing, Anheuser-Busch InBev

Anheuser-Busch has historically been one of the biggest spenders when it comes to sports marketing in the U.S. According to ESP research, the brand was the second-biggest U.S. sponsorship spender in 2016 (behind PepsiCo) with a $355 million spend.

That’s a lot of dough.

In the second episode of Shot Callers, @NickKelly takes us inside how AB InBev built and ran with Dilly Dilly, why they have moved to an incentive-based sponsorship model, and how one Tweet turned into the brand buying 40,000 beers. pic.twitter.com/P8RuCpL0w9

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) May 9, 2018

With an impact like that, how does a brand who seemingly spends at every sporting event quantify the true ROI of their investment? The short answer, it’s tough.

It’s this toughness that led Nick Kelly, Head of US Sports Marketing for Anheuser-Busch InBev, and the rest of his team to look at changing the way they worked with potential partners to bring measurement of effectiveness back to what is really driving real ROI.

In a Front Office Sports exclusive, Adam White catches up with Kelly after his keynote speech at IEG 2018 to see how Dilly Dilly took on a life of its own, why AB InBev transitioned to an incentive-based sponsorship model, and where sports marketing as a whole goes from here.

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