Case Study: Pilsner Urquell achieves 11-point lift in ad recall and 14-point lift in brand consideration with Facebook

Pilsner Urquell - Customer Case Study

Pilsner Urquell, the Czech lager brewed by SABMiller and sponsor of the national ice hockey team, wanted to turn its 2015 World Championship sponsorship into greater brand awareness among Czech hockey fans. With the tournament on home ice, the challenge was to create a campaign that felt authentic, cut through a competitive media environment, and extended the sponsorship beyond traditional TV.

The brand ran a real‑time Facebook campaign under #WeWantGold, centring on a bold stunt—freezing the brewery’s water to form the stadium ice—and sharing a series of video and ~30 photo ads across desktop and mobile News Feeds. The five‑week effort reached over 2 million people at a lower cost than TV, drove 217,000 Facebook interactions, and delivered strong Nielsen lifts: +11 points ad recall, +2 top‑of‑mind awareness, +14 brand consideration and +3 purchase consideration.

Pilsner Urquell