The summer heat is rising, and so are the stakes for the world’s biggest beer producers. With the FIFA World Cup returning to North America this summer, for the first time in over thirty years, the beer industry is staging a massive marketing blitz to ensure that they’re in on the action.

Over the next few weeks, millions of fans will pack into stadiums, crowd around neighborhood bars, and host packed living room watch parties across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. And for the corporate brewing giants, this tournament is a massive opportunity to reverse a decade of sluggish sales.

Global beer consumption has faced a slow, stubborn slide over the last ten years, dragged down by the meteoric rise of hard seltzers and RTD (ready-to-drink cocktails) and a generation of younger consumers who are drinking less alcohol overall. But a tournament on home soil changes the math completely. And “Big Beer” is spending big bucks to ensure that its in on the action.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, a permanent fixture of World Cup soccer for four decades, is leading the charge with an estimated investment of over 110 million dollars. But this year, the world’s #1 brewer company is going all in for one beer in particular. Michelob Ultra has been named the official tournament beer sponsor, backed by an aggressive retail rollout and the promotion of its non-alcoholic counterpart, Michelob Ultra Zero.

(Courtesy GUT Agency-NY / Stella Artois)

Budweiser is also launching  a massive global campaign called “Let It Pour,” fronted by soccer star Erling Haaland and legendary manager Jürgen Klopp. Stella Artois, and David Beckham think the best place to watch the games is your neighborhood bar and just dropped a clever new ad that makes the case quite convincingly.

Then there are beer giants like who are not “official sponsors” but still are looking to cash in on the games. Molson Coors is reportedly boosting its media spend by roughly 60 percent this year for its flagship labels, Coors Light and Miller Lite. This represents the heaviest financial commitment the company has made to a live sporting event in the last ten years. Meanwhile, Constellation Brands is unleashing the biggest media investment in the history of its Modelo brand, a campaign that required eighteen months of careful planning to execute.

Instead of treating the event like a single-day sprint, marketing teams are approaching this World Cup like a grueling, month-long marathon. With 104 total matches taking place across 39 days, organizers expect the tournament to draw an enormous global audience, and clearly  big beer companies are “all in” this summer.

###

And while we’re at it, there’s this…

Soccer Stars and Hollywood Collide in Michelob Ultra’s “Superior Match” Beer Ad

Best Beer Swag: This Miller Lite Soccer Ball Holds a 12-Pack