Dos Equis, a brand of Heineken USA, White Plains, N.Y., is making football and basketball playoff season more “interesting” this year with the launch of its Game Changer marketing initiative. Running through March, Game Changer encourages consumers of legal drinking age to use Dos Equis Lager and Dos Equis Ambar to enhance their in-home and on-premise sports viewing experiences, the company says.

At retail, the Dos Equis Game Changer program elements will embrace shoppers’ tournament season passions by using point-of-sale materials and channel-relevant offers that highlight ways to make game-viewing experiences more exciting and encourage consumers to share that enjoyment with friends, the company says. Cross-merchandising including instant redeemable coupons and mail-in rebates on the purchase of select high-margin food items and Dos Equis Lager and Ambar will encourage consumers to consider these food and beverage pairings, driving additional sales for participating retailers, it adds.

At on-premise locations, Dos Equis invites patrons to get into the competitive spirit by submitting their own version of the TV legend lines for the Most Interesting Legend Line bracket tournament. The best legend lines will be selected by the bar staff and showcased on the official Most Interesting bracket poster. At the end of the tournament, patrons can return to the account to vote for their favorite lines. Tournament winners will earn bragging rights as well as localized Dos Equis rewards, the company says.

“Dos Equis consumers are big sports fans who embrace the passion and emotion of the January through March football and basketball tournament season,” said Gwendolyn Boyce, brand director for Dos Equis at Heineken USA, in a statement. “The Most Interesting Legend Line Tournament leverages our successful Most Interesting Man campaign by engaging consumers in a competitive way on-premise, while also generating return traffic for the account.”