It’s hard to overstate the role of leagues like the NFL and NBA in American culture, but a few other sports have been giving them a run for their money: Soccer is on the rise, MLB had one of its most exciting postseasons in recent history, and Formula 1 has never been more popular stateside.
Jim Beam, the American whiskey company that leans into its Kentucky roots, has sponsorships across all three of those sports. Despite the company’s American heritage, Regan Clarke, VP American whiskey at Jim Beam parent company Suntory Global Spirits, said the brand’s sports marketing efforts are designed to grow its audience globally as much as locally.
“There’s room for both,” Clarke told Marketing Brew. “I think global, national, and hyper-local [sponsorships] can all live together in harmony. It’s about having the right tailored message to the consumers at the right time, in the right place, and meeting them where they are.”
Study abroad
Like many liquor brands, Jim Beam isn’t exactly new to the sports scene—the brand aired a regional Super Bowl spot in 2019, for instance—but it has ramped up its major partnerships in the past couple of years, including announcing a deal with the Cadillac F1 team in September.
Though F1 is a global sport, the Cadillac team is headquartered in Indiana and is anchoring its branding in being one of the only American teams in the paddock. Cadillac and Jim Beam’s status as “iconic American brands,” Clarke said, is part of what makes the sponsorship work stateside. And while global perceptions of the United States have plummeted this year, she said she believes focusing on the brand’s American roots will be effective among an international audience considering the role the US and its sports often play in trendsetting.
“I do think coming into the global F1 stage as these American icons together will be really interesting for a global audience,” Clarke said. “Yes, it’s a global sport, but the US base of F1 fandom continues to grow, and so I do think there’s a role for…our story.”
Clarke and her team also have some sports sponsorships that are focused closer to home, including collaborations with the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Those partnerships, Clarke said, are designed to target baseball fans in major markets through efforts like suite naming rights and limited-edition team-branded bottles that tap into the trading-card culture that’s long surrounded baseball.
Can’t-miss moments
The year before it signed on with Cadillac, Jim Beam became the exclusive spirit sponsor of the US Soccer Federation in a deal that includes activations at men’s and women’s national team games and the 2026 World Cup. Partnering with US Soccer gives the brand access to a large audience while also providing an opportunity for cultural relevance, Clarke said.
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“We’re going into a big, big moment next year with the World Cup, so for us right now, we’re really focused on…making sure that we are there where and when consumers are thinking about soccer and the World Cup,” she said. In the lead-up to the tournament, Jim Beam has been sponsoring pregame “block parties” at national team matches.
The Super Bowl is another essential moment on the cultural calendar that many brands look to get involved with, from traditional in-game ads, to regional buys, to social campaigns. Last year, Jim Beam took a social-first approach with its “7 Stages of Defeat” campaign starring Keegan-Michael Key, which also aired during playoff games, Clarke said. In choosing to circumvent the Super Bowl broadcast itself, Clarke said she hoped to better catch the attention of consumers, younger ones in particular.
“So many brands are going to show up in-game—it’s the expected,” she said. “Consumers see 10,000 messages a day…How are you gonna be in their top 20? How are you gonna meet them in a way that’s relevant?”
Clarke didn’t confirm if Jim Beam will have a presence in the 2026 Super Bowl, but indicated that it’s a possibility. “We need to be where the consumer is, so watch this space,” she told us. “It’s going to be exciting for us again in year two of thinking about how to disrupt and show up in the cultural zeitgeist in a relevant way.”
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