Coors Sales Continue to Soar

In today’s issue of Advertising Age, there is a story that looks into the Coors Brewing Company’s success of its four main brands: Coors Light, Coors Original, Keystone Light and Blue Moon.

The article says that the key to their success is a consistent message and a focus on the beer. Coors didn’t always have a successful advertising campaign though, as seen a few years ago when sales for Coors dropped with the “Rock On” campaign.

“Defying a largely stagnant U.S. beer industry, Coors Brewing Co. is managing some of the most robust growth the business has seen in decades, with all four of its largest brands routing their competitors during the past year.

“It’s a ride like we haven’t seen in a long time, if ever,” said Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights. “We haven’t seen a large brewer post percentage gains like that since at least the 1970s.”

Indeed, in the past year Coors’ brands on the top, middle and bottom shelves have dramatically outperformed their competitors, in some cases by exponential margins — and it’s all credited to a single-minded, if mind-numbing, obsession with brand attributes.

The roots of that astounding beer run — according to distributors, analysts and Coors’ own executives — were formed after it ditched the “Rock On” campaign in 2004, the T&A-driven effort that starred the “Coors Twins” and saw Coors fall far behind its still-larger rivals, Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing.

With those efforts, Coors abandoned its long-held, attribute-driven brand positioning. And while the strategy did generate unprecedented talk value and buzz by shocking drinkers who previously associated Coors brands with pristine images of the Rocky Mountains, it also generated poor sales that taught it a painful lesson.

Jokes don’t sell
“There was a collective decision that it was time to start selling beer again as opposed to lifestyles and jokes,” recalled one veteran Coors ad executive.

The approach that followed, the relentless and redundant pounding of simple brand attributes, is not one that wins many creative accolades for its agencies — DraftFCB, Chicago, Avenue A and Integer — but Coors has proved that it sells. “Brand managers tend to get bored long before the target audience does,” said Andy England, Coors’ chief marketing officer. “But we understand we need to have a relentless focus in order to succeed.”

Nowhere is that focus clearer than on Coors Light, which posted 5.4% growth over the 52 weeks ending April 19, compared with 1.5% and 1.2% gains by Bud Light and Miller Lite, according to AC Nielsen.

Coors’ consistent messaging borders on maddening: Every ad harps on cold refreshment, invoking the brand’s cold-filtered origins (they call it “sterile filtered”) and Rocky Mountain roots. Beyond the ads, a constant stream of innovations touts special tap handles that pour beer below freezing temperatures; labels that turn blue when the beer is cold enough to drink; frost-lined cans; and a lined 12-pack case that holds ice. It’s hard to miss the point.

Meanwhile, said veteran beverage marketing consultant Tom Pirko, its two major competitors have tended to talk about their own brands in a less focused way. Bud Light’s long-running sophomoric-humor-driven campaign has lately veered toward a drink-ability pitch, and Miller Lite has touted itself as the “Ultimate Light Beer,” a status that incorporates a number of different attributes. The fact that many of Miller’s recent ads have focused on tweaking Bud’s Dalmatian and Clydesdale icons hasn’t hurt, either…”(adage.com)