Bud Light is taking a page out of Roald Dahl?s classic by stashing gold cans in randomly selected packs, which lucky users can post on social media for a chance to win a pair of Super Bowl tickets for the rest of their lives.

The Super Bowl tickets, awarded to one grand prize winner, can be renewed for up to 51 years, and is just one component of Bud Light?s Stay Gold campaign. For such a large brand to require social media engagement as contingent on participation in a contest may alienate some of Bud Light?s Luddite fans, but it also heralds another point of leverage for the already protean platform in an omnichannel-first marketing landscape.

"Less than 1% of cans in Bud Light Strike Gold packaging are the coveted gold can, so finding one is meant to be rare, exciting and ultimately a shareable moment for consumers," said Anna Rogers, director of NFL partnerships and strategy at Anheuser-Busch. "Social media is an ideal entry mechanism for the Super Bowl Tickets for Life contest, and allows Bud Light drinkers to share the accomplishment of finding a gold can with their friends and followers on social platforms they?re already using every day."

The gold cans are contained in select cartons branded with limited edition Strike Gold Super Bowl-themed packaging. 

Beginning November 28 and extending through January 13, all packs of 18, 24 and 30 packs of 12-ounce Bud Light cans across the country (excluding California) will feature the new packaging. Just 37,000 gold cans will be randomly seeded in these Strike Gold packs, which opens the door to winning the grand prize.

Once one finds a gold can, they can enter the sweepstakes by taking a picture with the gold can and posting with the hashtags #SBTix4Life and #Sweeps on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter or on BudLight.com. 

Consumers entering in California simply must take a picture showing their fan spirit and post on social media with the hashtags #SBTix4Life, #Sweeps and #CA.

In addition to the grand prize drawing on January 16, 2017, Bud Light is offering six weekly winners during the promotional window a pair of season tickets to their favorite NFL team. 

The campaign is a continuation of Bud Light?s storied relationship with the NFL, which has already brought both brands knockout success; The NFL, despite dips in viewership this season, is still the most watched sport on television, and Bud Light is far and away the most popular beer brand in America (see story). 

And because Bud Light is imbibed by more than any other beer in the country, the natural inclination may be to invest in a more common denominator as a point of entry for the contest for the doubtless many who drink Bud Light but do not actively use social media. However, with a millennial cohort that is beginning to show signs of disinterest towards light beer, football and standard cable in general, social media may be the only place to adequately court a generation that has just recently reached drinking age.

Bud Light recently joined Twitter to host its own fantasy football draft, allowing mobile users to participate in a week-by-week activation that will crown one fan the first Cantasy Football Champion (see story).

"Knowing our fans are active on social media and that they consume most of their news on the go, mobile is a critical marketing tool for Bud Light and gives us the ability to produce difference experiences for fans on one consistent platform," Ms. Rogers said.