PASO ROBLES, California – 805 Beer announced that it is the new Craft Beer Sponsor of the World Surf League (WSL), the home of global professional surfing. The sponsorship includes 805 Beer activations at all five major WSL tour stops in California and Hawaii, including the iconic Vans U.S. Open in Huntington Beach and Billabong Pipeline Masters in Oahu.
“Surfing has been core to the 805 Beer story from the very beginning,” said DustinHinz, CMO at Firestone Walker Brewing Company. “Our team of 805Authenticos reflects varied styles and approaches to surfing, including Nate Tyler, Austin Neumann, Matt Becker, Mike McCabe and Conner Coffin. We are a California-born and bred company, and an 805 x WSL partnership is a natural evolution that furthers our passion for storytelling and our ongoing support of the sport.”
The WSL is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world’s best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The league runs more than 180 global contests annually and crowns the undisputed World Champions across all divisions.
Surfing has long been one of the driving forces behind 805’s “Authenticos”—a band of ambassadors who embody the culture and values of 805 Beer. One notableAuthentico is professional surfer Conner Coffin, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 4 in the world heading into the 2022 season of the WSL’s Championship Tour.
805 Beer will leverage its WSL partnership with tour event activations; digital and social campaigns; in-store POS; a VIP Pipeline Trip Giveaway campaign; and a feature film on Coffin, directed by Keith Malloy, that will be released this summer.
“805 isn’t just the beer I drink, it’s the place I’m from,” Coffin said. “I’m stoked to see my partnership with my hometown brewery, Firestone Walker, expand to the WSL, and to share the work I’m doing with 805 Beer to surf fans all over the world.”
“Our partnership with the WSL extends far beyond the tour itself, serving as a significant opportunity for our distribution and retail partners,” said David Macon, CSO at Firestone Walker Brewing Company. “It marries perfectly with our brand ethos and strategy to bring exciting programs to life in retail with beer drinkers in California, Hawaii, and beyond.”
About Firestone Walker
Founded by brothers-in-law Adam Firestone and David Walker in 1996, Firestone Walker Brewing Company is a California beer company with three innovative brewing facilities. Firestone Walker’s main brewery in Paso Robles produces a diverse portfolio ranging from iconic pale ales to vintage barrel-aged beers. TheBarrelworks facility in Buellton makes eccentric wild ales, while the Propagator pilot brewhouse in Venice specializes in R&D beers and limited local offerings. Firestone Walker is also the brewery behind 805, one of the nation’s fastest-growing beers. Firestone Walker was recently named “Best American Brewery of the Decade” by Paste Magazine.
About the WSL
Established in 1976, the World Surf League (WSL) is the home of the world’s best surfing.
A global sports, media and entertainment company, the WSL oversees international tours and competitions, a studios division creating over 500+ hours of live and on-demand content, and via affiliate WaveCo, the home of the world’s largest high performance, human-made wave. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, the WSL has regional offices in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA.
The WSL annually crowns the men’s and women’s surfing World Champions. The global Tours and Competition division oversees and operates more than 180 global contests each year across the Championship Tour, the development tiers, including the Challenger, Qualifying and Junior Series, as well as longboard and big wave properties.
Launched in 2019, WSL Studios is an independent producer of unscripted television projects, including documentaries and series, which provide unprecedented access to athletes, events, and locations around the world. WSL events and content are distributed on linear television in over 743M+ homes worldwide and across digital and social media platforms around the world.
WaveCo includes the Surf Ranch Lemoore facility and the utilizing and licensing of the Kelly Slater Wave System.
The WSL is dedicated to changing the world through the inspirational power of surfing by creating authentic events, experiences, and storytelling to inspire a growing, global community to live with purpose, originality, and stoke.
For More Information:
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