Budweiser toasts Derek Jeter with #ThisBudsFor2
To fete the legacy of legendary Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and the retirement of his jersey this weekend, MLB sponsor Budweiser is out with what it called an “emotive new video”, This Bud’s for 2, which went live Friday (May 12).
Budweiser -- and the city of New York -- are paying homage to Derek Jeter.
The two-minute video starts with Jeter’s final at-bat at Yankee Stadium, in which he hit a walk-off RBI-single against Baltimore. Noting the retirement of his number comes 962 days after this moment, Budweiser then takes viewers around New York City, replacing the number two on the Subway, a sign for Second Avenue and on a fire truck and taxi, to name a few, with Jeter’s 2 in pinstripes.
The tribute video will run on Budweiser’s social channels and paid digital, a rep said.
Per social media monitoring company Brandwatch, the hashtag #ThisBudsFor2 had over 1,400 mentions on May 12 as of 12:00 ET and the sentiment is completely positive within sentiment-categorized mentions at 100%.
A Brandwatch rep said most mentions stem from retweets of a tweet from Budweiser, which has over 11.7m impressions on its own.
The hashtag, in turn, has over 26.2m impressions, Brandwatch added.
The Yankees will honor Jeter during a pregame ceremony with the retirement of his uniform number and the unveiling of his Monument Park plaque on Sunday, May 14, which is not just Mother’s Day, but also Derek Jeter Night.
The Yankees said Jeter will become the 22nd player in team history to have his number retired.
Per the Yankees, Jeter played his 20th season with the Yankees in 2014, retiring with a personal career winning percentage of .593 and five World Series championships. A 14-time All-Star, the Yankees said Jeter is sixth in baseball history with 3,465 career hits and he tops the Yankees' all-time list in hits, games played (2,747), doubles (544), stolen bases (358), at-bats (11,195), singles (2,595) and hit-by-pitches (170). He had eight seasons with at least 200 hits and is one of two players in Yankee history with as many as four. (First baseman Lou Gehrig is the other.)
According to Budweiser, after Jeter watched the video, he said, “I’m honored MLB and Budweiser chose to celebrate my jersey retirement this way, and I’m really looking forward to being back at Yankee Stadium this weekend.”
Budweiser also created a Cubs tribute to broadcaster Harry Caray after the team’s World Series victory in 2016 that ended a 108-year drought.
Brands like Nike and Gatorade also created Jeter tribute videos when he retired in 2014.
For his part, Jeter posted his own thank you to New York on the Players' Tribune, a “new media company that provides athletes with a platform to connect directly with their fans, in their own words”, which Jeter founded in 2014.
The startup reportedly raised $40m earlier this year, bringing its total funding to date to $58m.