RUN BACK THE MIRACLE
Brand
MICHELOB ULTRA
Entrant Agency
WIEDEN+KENNEDY
Category
Digital Craft
Award
Bronze
Festival & Year
Cannes Lions (2026)
Case Study Details
History hit the ice again in Lake Placid last night. Relive the Run Back the Miracle magic with us.
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Presentation Board
“A sell-out event” “It's going to bring back this memory
to different generations”
“A glimpse into the future”
SEB
A TECHNICAL CHALLENGE
WITH NO PLAYBOOK
No one had ever recreated a real historical
sporting event as a live holographic experi-
ence. There was no existing pipeline, no
precedent and no margin for error. The audi-
ence would include the actual players who
had played the game 46 years earlier. The
holographic athletes on the ice had to be ac-
curate enough that the real athletes in the
seats would recognize themselves playing.
That standard defined every technical deci-
sion made in the build.
agit
NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN FOOTAGE
Archival footage was restored to 4K. Mo-
tion-capture algorithms extracted _play-
er-specific skeletal data from that footage —
the precise way each athlete moved, skated
and handled the puck — which were then
used to build photorealistic metahumans of
the team. A 180-foot Hologauze® scrim and —
36 laser projectors delivered them onto the
ice. A spatial audio system placed every
skate sound, crowd roar and puck impact
precisely throughout the arena. Five sepa-
rate systems ran simultaneously, synchro-
nized to a single timecode, live in front of
1,700 people.
A SOLD-OUT EVENT
Ticket demand ran four times available ca-
pacity. 1,700 fans attended from across the
country, some driving over 24+ hours to
attend. The event generated 4.4 billion im-
pressions across 500 media placements at
100% positive sentiment. 20+ media attend-
ed on the night. 35+ interviews were con-
ducted. Covered by Sports Illustrated, NBC
Sports, Ad Age, Sports Business Journal,
Fox News and 330+ other outlets.
IN ATTENDANCE GLOBAL RESSIONS | SOCIALIMPRESSIONS VOLUME SALES
fray
game — the voice of the original 1980 broadcast revisiting
the Miracle as a storyteller, 46 years later.
A photorealistic metahuman of a 1980 US Olympic player,
rebuilt from archival reference in Unreal Engine 5 — accu-
rate in proportion, movement and equipment.
The 180-foot Hologauze® scrim spanning the full width of
Herb Brooks Arena, running custom animations designed
specifically for the event.
Holographic players on the ice with a spatial audio system
placing every skate sound, crowd roar and puck impact pre-
cisely throughout the building,
NEVER-BEFORE-DONE
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
‘custom 180-foo! x 20-foot Hologauze® scrim — the largest ever
manufactured — was suspended across the full width of Herb
‘Brooks Arena, creating a seamless holographic display surtace
spanning the entire ice,
rh
LASER PROJECTORS
36er projectors were contig-
age field, delivering photo~
the scale ard brightness required for alive
jure extracted player-specific skeletal data from
10C archival footage. Each athlete was rebuilt in
'5 as a photorealistic metahuman — accurate down
al skating technique.
"ENGINEERING
‘A massive LED sereen, fllice surface projection and a spatial
audio system designed for the specific geometry of Herb
Brooks Arena combined to make the entire building part of the ex-
perience.
The national anthem performed live with full-ice projection
and fog machines, one of many details that made the night
feel less like a brand event and more like a real game.
