A-B InBev Puts Jackie Robinson At Center Of MLB Efforts

terry lefton

A-B InBev is leveraging MLB’s most venerable story -- Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier -- to commemorate both Opening Day and the 100th anniversary of Robinson’s birth. The brewer has backed “Impact,” a five-minute Spike Lee film about Robinson, which will be distributed in movie theaters, via social media and on MLB team sites. A-B, a longtime MLB sponsor, also made a seven-figure donation to the Jackie Robinson Foundation as it prepares to open a Robinson museum in Manhattan in December. There also will be a one-minute Robinson/Budweiser TV ad debuting Opening Day, Robinson 42 packaging for Budweiser ($0.42 of each JR bottle sold goes to the foundation) and out-of-home ads, including a newly unveiled billboard in N.Y.’s Penn Plaza. Some of A-B's signage within MLB ballparks will support the Robinson 100th commemoration.