How Coors Light is changing its marketing to win more music fans

Coors Light will be tweaking its marketing in 2024 to better engage music fans. The Molson Coors-owned beer will evolve its campaign platform from “Made to Chill” to “Choose Chill,” said Michelle St. Jacques, chief commercial officer at Molson Coors, speaking in an investor presentation Tuesday. The change “will drive a clear call to action to drinkers everywhere to reach for Coors Light.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Coors Light next year will increase the number of partnerships in music, “which we believe is the universal language of chill,” St. Jacques said. “We’ll launch a big new program for 2024 that spans all musical genres to appeal to Coors Light drinkers new and old, rural and urban, with one inclusive message.” The brand over the years has partnered with musicians including reggaeton star Ozuna, country artist Jason Aldean and the Jonas Brothers. Coors Light, which previously confirmed it is returning to the Super Bowl, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney backlash, with recent growth capping a four-year turnaround that St. Jacques credited to establishing the “Made to Chill” platform in 2019. “Over the past four years, we’ve consistently seen an improvement in the brand’s performance. And now, in 2023, Coors Light is growing in every region, every market and every major retailer in America,” St. Jacques said. “It’s now the No. 1 light beer in volume share in 11 states from New York all the way to California.” Read more: Coors Light returns to the Super Bowl Nationally, Modelo Especial recently surpassed Bud Light as the top-selling light beer year-to-date, according to NielsenIQ data reported by Beer Marketer’s Insights in late September. Bud Light sales volume fell 30.6% in the four weeks ending Sept. 23, while Modelo increased 7.7% and Coors Light jumped 15%, according to NielsenIQ data from Beer Marketer’s. St. Jacques’ remarks came during a presentation for investors in which Molson Coors execs outlined a new financial model for the parent company, heralding its transition from 2019’s “revitalization” phase to a new plan they called “accelerate.” The new plan has five pillars, the first of which is to grow revenue from “core power brands,” including Coors Light. Coors Light has not revealed which agency would produce its Super Bowl ad. The brand currently works with a variety of shops including Mischief, Droga5, Alma DDB and Connect. Droga5 did this year’s “High-Stakes Beer Ad.” Football marketing news Tracking Super Bowl, NFL and college brand moves Read more here The share gains from Bud Light are structural, with retailers now reallocating shelf space in Molson Coors’ favor, according to Molson Coors. “In total, we have secured tens of thousands of cubic feet of additional floor space,” St. Jacques said. Coors Light was the top dollar share gainer among all beers in the U.S. during the second quarter, which influenced the decision to launch a 2024 Super Bowl ad, St. Jacques said. This year’s Super Bowl ad featured Coors Light and Miller Lite together as the brands celebrated the end of Anheuser-Busch’s 30-year run as an exclusive Super Bowl alcohol advertiser. “I would look at [2023’s] Super Bowl as being a bit of an anomaly; an idea that met that moment,” she said. Typically, Molson Coors advertises its brands separately; establishing distinct platforms for both Coors Light and Miller Lite (“Tastes Like Miller Time”), which has helped both brands grow, St. Jacques said. That growth is defying trends of category deterioration, said St Jacques, pinning that decline on Bud Light. “We’ve still heard some criticisms that our portfolio plays too heavily in the premium light segment, which has been declining for years. Well, here’s what I’ll say, that consumers don’t go out looking to buy a premium light beer. They buy products that meet their needs and their occasions. And in the case of beer, consumers are often looking for something that tastes bright, is light and refreshing, and is highly sessionable,” she said. “The light beer category, regardless of price point, is almost 50% of the total $115 billion beer category in the U.S. It’s big, huge. In volume, it’s six times bigger than FABs [flavored alcohol beverages], seven times bigger than hard seltzers and more than 20 times bigger than [ready to drink] spirits,” St. Jacques said. “The truth is the premium light segment is being dragged down by one competitor, and one competitor alone, because Coors Light and Miller Lite are not only growing share of premium lights, but of total light beer.” Molson Coors’ new strategy also calls for the company to “premiumize” its portfolio, with a goal to generate 33% of its net sales from above-premium products (the brand had 28% in 2022 and 23% in 2019). The company is also looking to expand its “beyond beer” portfolio by focusing on spirits and non-alcohol products including a Blue Moon non-alcoholic variety, planned to launch in December. A new financial model forecasts low-single-digit net sales growth; mid-single digit income growth and high-single digit earnings per share growth. The latter will be helped along by a new five-year, $2 billion share repurchase authorization.

How Coors Light is changing its marketing to win more music fans

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