CLERMONT, Ky. — Kentucky bourbon and football are coming together in a new Jim Beam campaign that could make one of the game’s most frustrating sounds a little easier for fans to celebrate.
Jim Beam has launched “Hit the Beam,” a football-season promotion that will reward fans when a field goal or extra-point attempt strikes the goalpost — the play commonly known among football fans as a “doink.”
The Clermont-based bourbon brand is teaming with actor and comedian Ben Marshall and former NFL kicker Kai Forbath for the campaign, which launched Sept. 9 and will run throughout the regular season.
The premise plays on the Beam name: When a football hits the “beam,” fans who have entered the promotion get a chance to win.
Throughout the season, each qualifying doink will trigger an opportunity for entrants to win an 85-inch television, with as many as five TVs awarded each week. Winners will be selected at random based on the number of doinks occurring during the applicable period.
If no kicks hit the goalpost during a week, eligible entries will carry over to the following week’s drawing. Nonwinning entries also remain eligible for subsequent weekly drawings during the sweepstakes period.
Participants must be 21 or older.
The promotion is part of a broader fall advertising campaign designed to connect the Kentucky bourbon brand with football fans.
A campaign video features Marshall as Forbath’s decidedly unqualified kicking coach. Instead of teaching the former NFL kicker to split the uprights, Marshall attempts to train him to intentionally hit the goalpost.
“I spent my entire career trying to put the ball between the beams, so being told to aim for one was definitely a first,” Forbath said. “It turns out hitting the goalpost on purpose is a lot harder than it looks.”
Forbath played nine seasons in the NFL after beginning his professional career in 2011. His stops included Washington, New Orleans, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Dallas and Los Angeles.
Marshall, meanwhile, plays up the comedy of trying to teach a professional kicker how to miss.
“I’ve watched enough football to know that a doink usually results in a lot of yelling, just not the good kind,” Marshall said. “Jim Beam is changing that.”
For Jim Beam, the campaign is another effort to position the 231-year-old Kentucky bourbon brand around shared social and sporting occasions.
“At Jim Beam, we’ve always believed the best moments are the ones shared with others,” said Regan Clarke, vice president of American whiskey at Suntory Global Spirits. “For generations, Jim Beam has been about expanding the table and bringing newcomers into the family, and our campaign ‘Hit the Beam’ carries that spirit into game day.”
The campaign will appear across connected television, digital advertising and social media platforms throughout the regular season.
Jim Beam also has official partnerships with the Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. The brand plans to offer limited-edition bottles tied to each franchise at select retailers in their respective markets.
The football promotion adds to Jim Beam’s growing sports marketing presence. The bourbon brand also has ties to motorsports, including NASCAR, and serves as the exclusive spirits sponsor of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team.
Jim Beam traces its history to 1795 and the Beam family’s early whiskey-making operations in Kentucky. Today, the brand’s flagship bourbon continues to be produced in Clermont and Boston, Kentucky, under Suntory Global Spirits.
Fans can enter the Hit the Beam sweepstakes beginning Sept. 9. Entrants must be at least 21, and complete eligibility requirements and official rules apply.
About Jim Beam®:
Jim Beam is the world’s best-selling bourbon, crafted by eight generations of family distillers since 1795. Fred Noe, Jim Beam’s seventh Generation Master Distiller, and Freddie Noe, Jim Beam’s eighth Generation Master Distiller, have stayed true to the family recipe that’s been passed down through generations. The Jim Beam portfolio of products includes Jim Beam Bourbon, Jim Beam Black®, and Jim Beam Flavors, among other offerings. For more information, go to www.jimbeam.com @jimbeamofficial on Instagram and @jimbeam on Twitter.
About Suntory Global Spirits:
As a world leader in premium spirits, Suntory Global Spirits inspires the brilliance of life, by creating rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature. Known for its craftsmanship of premium American whiskeys, including Jim Beam® and Maker’s Mark®; Japanese whiskies, including Yamazaki® and Hibiki®; and leading Scotch brands including Laphroaig®, Suntory Global Spirits also produces leading brands such as El Tesoro® and Hornitos® tequilas and Roku® gin, and is a world leader in Ready-To-Drink cocktails, with brands like -196™ (minus one-nine-six) and On The Rocks™ Bartender Created Cocktails.
A global company with approximately 6,000 employees in nearly 30 countries, Suntory Global Spirits is driven by its core values of Growing for Good, Yatte Minahare and Giving Back to Society, and aims to have a positive impact on the planet, consumers and communities. Headquartered in New York City, Suntory Global Spirits is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information, visit www.suntoryglobalspirits.com and www.drinksmart.com.
