Super Bowl LVII is about a month away, and Molson Coors is in the competitive spirit.
Molson Coors CMO Michelle St. Jacques and U.S. sales and distributor operations president Brian Feiro sent a memo to distributors early this morning, announcing that its Big Game play will feature some friendly competition between its top two light beer brands: Coors Light and Miller Lite.
“When we announced our plans to return to the Super Bowl, we said the decision took us less than a minute,” St. Jacques and Feiro wrote. “After 30 years away, you might say we’re a little excited at the chance to make Super Bowl history. And now, the countdown is on – less than ONE month until the big day!”
Molson Coors announced it would advertise on the national Super Bowl LVII broadcast in July, marking its first effort to do so in more than 30 years. Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) has controlled alcohol category advertising during the national broadcast since 1989 through an advertising exclusivity contract, but in June announced it would forgo the opportunity this year, in an effort to “rebalance” its media investments to align with beer’s key selling periods.
“Since we first announced our return, the question has been, ‘Which brand will show up during the big game?’” St. Jacques and Feiro wrote. “While the decision to get back on the big stage took less than 60 seconds, this next choice wasn’t so simple. Believe it or not, our two iconic light beer brands have some strong opinions.
Miller Lite and Coors Light are each claiming the spot as theirs – and only theirs,” they continued. “We’re going to grab our tailgating snacks, kick back, and see if #TeamMiller and #TeamCoors can figure this one out for themselves, as each brand launches a campaign claiming the ad is theirs.”
Along with the national ad spots, advertising for the campaign will be featured in a full-page New York Times ad, on hometown out-of-home (OOH) billboards in Golden, Colorado (Coors Light), and Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Miller Lite), and on social media, according to the memo. The Miller Lite campaign will focus on taste – with a “The Big Game hasn’t tasted this great in 30 years” tagline – while Coors Light will focus on refreshment via its “The Big Game hasn’t been this refreshing in 30 years” tagline.
Coors Light is Molson Coors’ top-selling, off-premise beer brand in multi-outlet plus convenience channels, with more than $6.89 billion in dollar sales year-to-date (YTD) through November 27, increasing dollar sales +0.5% year-over-year (YoY), according to the market research firm IRI. The brand is the No. 5 beer brand in IRI-tracked channels, with a 16.99% share of beer category dollar sales.
Miller Light is Molson Coors’ No. 2 beer brand, with more than $2.12 billion in dollar sales YTD in IRI-tracked channels, a -1.4% decline YoY. The brand is the No. 6 beer brand, with a 5.24% share of beer category dollar sales.
An estimated 208 million people watched Super Bowl LVI in 2022, according to the National Football League (NFL). Molson Coors skirted A-B’s exclusivity rights in the past with regional ad buys, as well as a metaverse-exclusive Miller Lite ad in 2021, viewable at the Meta Lite Bar.
The national campaign announcement for this year’s game will not change Molson Coors’ strategy at retail, St. Jacques and Feiro told distributors. The company is continuing with its “It’s Game Time,” campaign and features Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Blue Moon Belgian White and Vizzy Hard Seltzer.
The campaign is supported by retailer media at Walmart, Albertsons, Kroger, 7-Eleven and Circle K, Feiro said in a video to distributors. It also heavily features “large portfolio displays” with the intent to close the display gap between Bud Light and Coors Light and Miller Lite – a “$30 million opportunity.”
Kits with point-of-sale materials (POS) shipped earlier this month and started hitting retailers January 9. They include merchandise co-branded with online sports betting platform DraftKings with a QR code to enter a digital sweepstakes. The POS features variations of the above five brands, which Feiro noted may not all be available through all distributors and retailers.
“Our ask is: sell as much as you can,” Feiro said. “Get our brands on the floor. Get as many of these on the floor as you can and take advantage of the opportunity for us to take what is rightfully ours in this time of the year.”