Cholula Hot Sauce was a little-known brand when we first started with the product. Today, that’s a very different story after taking them from 7th to 2nd in market share. This phenomenal growth was sparked directly from a baseball sponsorship that started with two teams and grew to 9 different Major League ball clubs. From premiere placements around scoreboards, home run derbies and a full branded experience in the stadium, we helped Cholula become the fastest growing hot sauce.

We invite you to lick your lips and read the full story.

Spitball prides itself on being great listeners, but never order takers. Cholula at the time was owned by Proximo Spirits, the company of popular brands including 3 Olive Vodka, 1800 Tequila and others. These brands poured money into glitzy commercials filled with celebrities. Cholula couldn’t foot the bill for those – nor was it right for where they were as a brand.

We knew we had to get product in peoples’ hands, while maximizing every penny to get the most exposure. On our quest to drive brand notoriety, we took meetings from various media properties but none really brought anything unique to the plate. After an unusually disappointing media meeting, we started to spitball ideas over lunch. Knowing that Cholula indexed high with baseball fans, it was pure fate when we saw MLB.com was in the same building. Soon after, we arrived at the idea of the Cholula Flamethrower program.

The star of the show was the custom branded on-air radar graphic that appeared anytime a pitcher threw 98+ mph. The program also consisted of on-air, in-stadium placements that gained premiere TV exposure and branded concession stations and menu items. 

Spitball carefully scouted the stadiums of each MLB partner to secure the best placements and also draft new opportunities. Behind home plate and baseline signage, LED animations, concord signage, scoreboard digital displays, batting cages, outfield wall banners and radar guns all helped bring the brand to life for those in attendance, as well as those watching the broadcast. The in-stadium experience was supplemented by a complete in-game integration with the television partners including opening billboards, sponsored segments and the highly successful Cholula Flamethrower feature.

A key component of the program was to generate trial. Not only did Spitball secure product placement at each concession stand, demoting ketchup and mustard to the minors, but also landed in luxury suites and clubs around the stadiums. We also worked with their food service partners to create unique Cholula menu items. The Cholula Tater Hots were a home run in Chicago, the Flamethrower chicken tenders were a star in NY and the Chicken Sandwich in Washington, DC was out-of-the-park good.

Spitball took the program to the upper deck by creating a completely branded space for the Texas Rangers called The Cholula Porch. Spitball architected the Cholula Cap Wall which was constructed using nearly 15,000 authentic Cholula bottle caps. Fans loved it so much they would snap, tweet and share photos which helped expand Cholula’s exposure.

Cholula was able to achieve an 800% ROI compared to a standard TV media buy. Measured by Repucom, these numbers capture the exposure a brand gains during game broadcasts. These do not even include the eyeballs gained by those in-stadium!

The brand shot to stardom as a result of the MLB program. When Spitball was signed as Cholula’s agency, the brand was number seven in the intensely competitive hot sauce category. Spitball helped take Cholula to number three, just behind the category behemoths with just a fraction of the budget.

Read about our last push to make Cholula second in market share through a national campaign…