Dear Client:
Today, readers of The New York Times will see Molson Coors’ first big activation ahead of the company’s first big Super Bowl ad in more than 30 years.
It’s a mock article. And here’s the clever twist: Each of their two giant light brands is claiming the Super Bowl ad belongs to them and only them.
“Sources from Miller Lite have stated that the campaign will focus on the brand’s legacy as the Original Light Beer, with great taste and only 96 calories,” part of the ad copy reads.
“Another source familiar with the campaign, however, has assured us that it will actually be a Coors Light commercial, refreshing football fans with a much-needed moment of chill.”
What’s even more clever is that we aren’t actually any closer to knowing which brands MC will feature during the national broadcast (which the company had previously said would be a 30-second spot), but we do know they’re leveraging the hell outta the lead up.
“We’ve always talked about … Super Bowl isn’t a 30-second spot; it’s not a moment, it’s a season,” Molson Coors CMO Michelle St. Jacques told BBD. “You have to play across the entire season.”
Besides the Times ad, the company is also deploying billboards that look like subway ads, placed in the brands’ home markets of Golden, Colorado and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Molson Coors did not disclose what it spent on the Big Game national broadcast spot, but Ad Age pegged the cost of a 30-second commercial at around $7 million, on the high end.
WHICH BRANDS IN THE BIG GAME? MSJ repeated her oft-used line that it took “less than a minute” to decide to advertise in the Super Bowl after A-B gave up exclusivity last summer.
“It’s really a moment of a lifetime,” she told BBD. “You never expect to be in a position where you get to return back to something of this magnitude after 30 years. The decision was easy.”
“Now, which brand or brands to feature in the Super Bowl … let’s just say that’s a little more complicated.”
MSJ says they’ve spent the past few months “really thinking through all the different options, and leaving no stone unturned.”
But at least on the lead up, marketing brass thinks it’s the right time to showcase Miller Lite and Coors Light, with the brands gaining. “Total category, the latest 13 weeks, from a dollar share perspective, our premium lights are gaining share in the total industry,” says MSJ.
PUTTING ALL FOCUS INTO ONE BIG PROGRAM WITH 100 MILL CAPTIVE AUDIENCE. But we wondered, will Molson Coors also do regional and/or digital activations for the Big Game, as they have in years past?
“We’ve spent the past few years hacking our way into this conversation,” she admits. “And when we could get on the big stage — again, no brainer. Especially because you get an over-100-million-household captive audience, in a moment that people actually care about ads. So it was too good of a moment to pass up. We’re putting all of our focus and effort behind one big program going into the Super Bowl.
“We want to make sure we make it count.
“When we briefed out what success looks like for the Super Bowl we had some really low ambitions, like, ‘make Super Bowl history,’” she joked. “But certainly, we want to go big.”
What does that look like?
“We want to do something that’s never been done before.” But they also want to nail the brand platforms – to “really land what our brands stand for.” And to help “sell a lot of beer. We’ve had those principles at the front of our mind in every single thing we do.”
So: “I can tell you that there will be firsts when it comes to both us as Molson Coors,” and when it “comes to the Super Bowl itself.”
But this isn’t MSJ’s first rodeo.
MSJ HAS BEEN HERE BEFORE, WITH THE NO.2 SUPER BOWL AD IN ’16. “I have done Super Bowl before,” MSJ reminds us. “My first Super Bowl ad that I did was the Heinz Wiener Stampede,” in 2016.
“That ad was rated number two in Super Bowl that year — which leaves the number one, coveted position as something I still have aspirations to hit.”
Distribs are ready.
THE WHOLE NETWORK’S FIRST SUPER BOWL IN MORE THAN 30 YEARS. “This isn’t just our first time back in the Super Bowl in over 30 years, it’s our whole network’s,” said MSJ.
“One of the things we’ve talked a lot about is both our employee and our system’s pride, and making sure we do an idea that everyone’s going to look at and be excited about.”
They’re getting in on display action. “The pictures of how our distributors are executing with our sales teams” are rolling in. “And if those pictures are any indication of the excitement that the system has, it’s clear everyone’s really pumped about this moment.”
Correction: Yesterday, in a piece regarding Doll Distributing in Iowa testing rail delivery with A-B, we parenthetically wrote that A-B was a shareholder in Doll. That is not correct — A-B helped with an acquisition years ago but is not a shareholder, the family tells us. We regret the error.
BREWPIC: A New York Times ad kicks off Molson Coors’ “Super Bowl season” approach to their 30-second Big Game spot.
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Until tomorrow,
Harry, Jenn, Jordan, Bianca
“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” – Albert Camus
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