Coors Light and Miller Lite battled it out (literally) in Molson Coors’ Super Bowl ad spot Sunday, but in a surprise twist, the 30-second spot ended up being an ad for Molson Coors’ craft beer brand Blue Moon Belgian White.
Molson Coors began teasing its ad – the company’s first national Super Bowl spot in more than 30 years – in January, announcing that its two light beer brands would be competing to be featured during Super Bowl LVII. Molson Coors also partnered with DraftKings, a sports betting platform, to let consumers bet (for free) on things that could happen in ad.
The ad itself featured two men in a CGI-assisted bar fight over whether it was a Coors Light or Miller Lite commercial, shouting taglines such as “Great taste, less filling,” “Cold as the Rockies,” and “it’s Miller time.” In the end, a female bartender puts down a fresh pint of Blue Moon – adorned with an orange slice – and states, “Actually, it’s a Blue Moon commercial.”
“The idea of a twist at the end is something we’ve always loved about this campaign,” Molson Coors CMO Michelle St. Jacques said in a blog post. “The truth is, we didn’t make the final call until recently. We filmed eight different endings, but we knew that only Blue Moon could settle the battle between Miller Lite and Coors Light.”
The DraftKings partnership was the “top free-to-play lifestyle contest in the history of DraftKings,” according to the Molson Coors blog post. More than 257,000 people placed free bets, with 3.79% predicting Blue Moon would be the highlighted brand in the end.
Molson Coors’ entire Super Bowl campaign resulted in 6 billion media impressions and 1,300 articles, a Molson Coors record, the company said. Adweek ranked the ad No. 3 in its top 10 list – the only bev-alc commercial to make the list – calling the “high-octane spot” “one of the most effective ads of the night.” The commercial also made it within the top five in rankings from CBS, the Washington Post and VinePair, and was given a 4.5/5 score from Ad Age, the “highest among beer ads,” according to Molson Coors.
“This 30-second spot is a marketer’s dream – often we’re pushing for more branding in our spots, and this ad really is an epic tribute to our most-iconic beer brands,” St. Jacques said. “Not only do we talk about Coors Light’s refreshment and Miller Lite’s great taste throughout, but our beers and branded neon signs are all over the bar, the background music is even chanting Miller and Coors. And – on top of this – our lead actors are holding our beers in their hands the entire time.
“The spot itself is a celebration of what our premium light brands stand for,” she continued. “Sneaking in Blue Moon in [the] last few seconds is just the cherry on top.”
Blue Moon ended 2022 maintaining its spot as the No. 1 craft beer brand in multi-outlet plus convenience channels, with more than $126.5 million in dollar sales and 4.73% dollar share of the craft segment, through January 1, 2023, according to the market research firm IRI. In the last four weeks (ending January 29), Blue Moon claimed a 5.94% dollar share of craft in IRI-tracked channels.
Coors Light Gets Extra Boost from Super Bowl Winning QB Patrick Mahomes
Coors Light received an extra promotional bump courtesy of Super Bowl winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Mahomes was filmed celebrating his team’s victory and his MVP win in the Chiefs’ locker room. In the video, Mahomes is overheard saying: “I’m about to hammer like 100 Coors Lights.”
“I’m about to hammer like a hundred Coors lights” – Patrick Mahomes https://t.co/T4dhQQHfdD
— Adam Siplon (@adamsiplon) February 13, 2023
While the NFL prohibits active players from endorsing beer brands, Molson Coors has received a significant amount of Coors Light promotion from Mahomes through candid videos of himself and family drinking the light beer, including in celebration of the Chiefs’ AFC championship win.
Mahomes and Molson Coors also sidestepped the NFL’s regulations last summer, with Mahomes promoting a Coors Light-branded flashlight in an ad.
Heineken 0.0 and Ant-Man Join Forces for Super Bowl Ad
Heineken USA collaborated with Disney-owned Marvel Studios for a Super Bowl LVII ad promoting Heineken 0.0 – the “first-ever non-alcoholic beer commercial [to] air during the Big Game,” according to a Heineken spokesperson.
The 15-second ad aired during the national broadcast and featured actor Paul Rudd in character as Ant-Man, reassuring an ant companion that he’s in tip-top shape because he’s drinking “alcohol free” Heineken 0.0. The ad spot also features the tagline “Now you can before saving the day.”
A longer 60-second version of the commercial is available on Heineken’s YouTube page. Both ads also promote Marvel’s upcoming film, “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.”
“The advertisement is part of a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Heineken and Marvel Studios that celebrates the rising popularity of low- and no-alcohol options and brings the growing sober curious moment to a larger audience than ever before,” the Heineken spokesperson said.
A-B’s Bud Light Ad Makes USA Today’s and The Athletic’s Top 10 Lists; Samuel Adams Gets Shoutout as Regional Ad Spot
Although Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) waived its alcohol category exclusivity for the national Super Bowl broadcast this year, the beer giant still participated in Big Game with more than three minutes of national ad time, including for its light beer brand Bud Light.
The ad featured actor Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh Sperry Teller dancing and enjoying Bud Lights while waiting on hold during a customer service phone call. Bud Light gave an early look at the ad spot, as well as an extended 60-second version, earlier this month on its YouTube page.
The Bud Light ad – meant to bring Bud Light into “a new era” with “a magnetic tone that helps fans see choosing to enjoy life is easy,” – was given a rating of 6.04/10 by USA Today, ranking No. 6 on the news site’s top-10 list. Bud Light was the only bev-alc brand to crack USA Today’s top 10 list, while Molson Coors’ commercial ranked No. 16, with a rating of 5.61/10.
Three other bev-alc brands made USA Today’s top-30 list:
- No. 23 A-B’s Busch Light, with a rating of 5.45/10;
- No. 28 A-B’s Michelob Ultra (“New Members Day”), with a rating of 5.32/10;
- And No. 29 Crown Royal, with a rating of 5.3/10.
The Heineken 0.0/Marvel ad tied with Warner Bros. “The Flash” trailer at No. 37, with a rating of 4.89/10. Michelob Ultra’s second ad spot, titled “Full Swing Gossip,” was No. 43, with a rating of 4.76/10.
Bud Light made it even higher on New York Times-owned The Athletic’s top-25 list, ranking No. 4.
Boston Beer Company’s Samuel Adams ad – a regional spot promoting a reformulated Boston Lager – made the top of The Athletic’s list.
The spot featured Samuel Adams spokesperson “Your Cousin from Boston” daydreaming of a “brighter” Boston, in which Yankees and Red Sox fans get along and retired Boston Celtics player Kevin Garnett preaches against trash talking.
Even though the Samuel Adams spot was not a national ad play, it was highlighted as the “regional standout” by Adweek in the publications 2023 rankings.