How Adams Outdoor & Vistar Media brought Elijah Craig to life at the PGA championship

The customer

Adams Outdoor Advertising is one of the largest privately held outdoor advertising companies in the U.S., with a mission to reinvent the medium as a driver of brand storytelling and creative excellence. With a presence across key markets—including Charlotte, the stage for this PGA Championship campaign—Adams is known for pairing local market expertise with bold, innovative use of digital and static formats.

As a long-standing partner for national and regional brands, Adams has a proven track record of leveraging technology, data and design to elevate out-of-home into an integrated channel within modern marketing mixes. For Elijah Craig and Method 1, that meant a partner capable of executing a complex, real-time campaign with the precision, artistry and scale demanded by a global sporting event.

The strategy was simple but ambitious: own the city before, during and after one of golf’s biggest events with creative that felt as dynamic and prestigious as the tournament itself.

The strategy

In the five days leading up to the championship, Charlotte’s streets came alive with countdown messaging and warm welcomes for PGA Tour fans. During tournament play, the campaign shifted into a real-time experience—featuring a live leaderboard that updated throughout the day, reflecting changes as they happened.

Each evening, the content transitioned seamlessly from sports to spirits: post-round standings led directly into happy hour messaging, with Elijah Craig branding taking over digital screens citywide. This thoughtful dayparting ensured Elijah Craig was top-of-mind when fans were most likely to celebrate the day’s play.

The technology

The execution hinged on the power and flexibility of the Vistar Ad Server. Using Vistar’s dynamic feed capabilities and precision scheduling, Adams was able to:

• Deliver real-time leaderboard updates across multiple locations 
• Daypart messaging to align with tournament play, happy hour and evening brand moments 
• Target specific screens to reach high-value audiences at the right time and place 

Vistar’s platform provided the perfect balance—streamlined scheduling for efficient campaign management, combined with the freedom to activate custom, high-impact dynamic creative developed by Adams.

"At Adams, we’re committed to redefining the boundaries of DOOH, and Vistar has been an invaluable partner in that journey. When Method 1 approached us with the opportunity to collaborate on a campaign for Elijah Craig, we embraced it as a chance to create something truly special. Together, we developed captivating content that not only celebrated a major city event but also elevated a distinguished brand. The result was a dynamically designed campaign that maximized exposure and delivered a stunning visual experience."  
Matt Hood
VP of Programmatic, Adams Outdoor Advertising  

The measurement

Measurement was a key pillar of the campaign. Leveraging Vistar’s real-time reporting tools, paired with Adams’ proprietary Adams Capture platform, the team delivered unparalleled campaign visibility for Elijah Craig and Method 1, the agency partner.

• Real-time interactive player map showed exactly when and where creative ran 
• DoubleVerify tagging provided third-party validation 
• Adams Capture analytics delivered deep insights into who saw the campaign, where and when, giving the client both robust proof-of-performance and actionable audience intelligence 

This combination of Vistar’s reporting and Adams Capture’s audience intelligence ensured stakeholders were plugged in 24/7, with insights that went far beyond traditional OOH metrics.

“I’ve worked with many Out of Home companies and Adams Outdoor made everything easy. From service to media execution and reporting the partnership was a success on multiple fronts.”
Blaise McNamee
Associate Media Director, Elijah Craig

The results 

The Elijah Craig campaign with Adams Outdoor delivered unmatched scale and precision, ensuring the brand owned Charlotte during the PGA Championship. Over the course of the four-week flight, the campaign generated millions of impressions and captured a highly engaged audience across the city.

• 15M+ total impressions across 41 digital screens in Charlotte 
• 5M unique device IDs captured, validating each and exposure 
• 1.5M+ impressions delivered by top performing screens, with many others surpassing 500K-1M 

By fusing the flexibility of the Vistar Ad Server with Adams’ creative and strategic expertise, the campaign became more than just OOH—it was a real-time brand experience that dominated Charlotte during one of its highest-profile events of the year.