Molson Coors awards Super Bowl commercial to Droga5, teases spot in New York Times ad

Molson Coors has picked Droga5 to handle its first Super Bowl ad in more than 30 years, but the company is keeping mum on which of its brands the ad will feature. The brewer is playing into the debate between sibling brands Coors Light and Miller Lite, buying a full-page ad in The New York Times that makes arguments for each. Rival Anheuser-Busch InBev maintained exclusivity among all alcohol brands since 1989 but said last June it would end that agreement so it could better spread its advertising funds throughout the year. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Only weeks later Molson Coors confirmed it had bought a 30-second Super Bowl ad. It will run during the game’s first half, Marcelo Pascoa, global marketing VP for Coors Light, said in an interview. The Times ad is presented in newspaper style, with copy including lines such as “a source familiar with the campaign,” as it attempts to portray competing narratives from Miller Lite and Coors Light representatives about which one will appear. The brewer also plans to use similar tactics in social media ads up until the Feb. 12 game. The assignment is a big win for Droga5, which was chosen over other roster shops. Omnicom's DDB has in recent years handled much of Molson's TV ads for Miller Lite and Coors Lite, while Mischief has made recent gains with Molson Coors. Pascoa said Molson Coors arrived at Droga5 after reaching out to a range of agencies. “At the end of the day, we saw a lot of great creative but this [Droga5] was the idea we felt was the most powerful of them all.” The company considered a portfolio ad or a single brand ad, Pascoa added “but there was a third option which was whatever you think is going to be the best creative, make our brand stronger and sell the most beer.” While shut out of the game for years, Coors Light and Miller Lite developed a knack for creatively surrounding the Super Bowl, with campaigns including Coors Light’s “Dreams” in 2021, Miller Lite’s “URL” (2021) and Metaverse bar (2022). “Roadblocks and barriers have led to some of the best creative work, and we want to keep that up,” said Sofia Colucci, global VP for Miller and economy brands for Molson Coors. “We don’t think of this as a 30-second ad, we think of it as a way to break through in culture. You can expect we'll take that same level of creativity [to the Super Bowl spot]." AB InBev will run ads in the game, even though it no longer has exclusivity. Two other alcohol brands have confirmed ads so far—Crown Royal and Rémy Martin.

Molson Coors awards Super Bowl commercial to Droga5, teases spot in New York Times ad

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