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A can shall lead them:  Re-discovering authenticity

3/30/2014

 
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A blind mountain-climber gave an inspirational speech at the recent MillerCoors distributor convention. It might have been part of an overall theme. Blind luck appears to have played a key role in Miller Lite's recent business uptick in the wake of the arrival of its original-looking white can. But hey, there's nothing wrong with luck, blind or otherwise. Nothing at all.
Lite's white can began as a "limited edition" retro design timed to arrive in market coincident with the brand's placement in "Anchorman-2." It found traction. Lite began posting sales gains for the first time in a long time. It had everything to do with the can design change, and not much to do with the movie.  
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"Anchorman 2" promotional piece
According to the top Lite marketing guy, the retro white can attracts older drinkers "because they remember it and it brings back great memories," as well as younger drinkers "because of its authenticity." He called authenticity  "an important trend these days." 

It's important alright, but authenticity in beer labels is no trend. 
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In an earlier article here, we lamented the absence of "signature elements" in light-beer label designs, the sorts of heraldry that provide the basis for authenticity. All three major light beer brands featured slick stylized designs, largely void of any tradition cues. Over the years, Lite had lurched toward Coors Light's silver, then Bud Light's blue, all the while shedding its heritage elements (as the timeline shows). In the white can, all Lite's missing elements have now returned. 

In the same article, we longed for the "little facts that add legitimacy to, and build kinship with a brand." Authenticity on the label, together with authenticity in the beer. Now, facts like Pilsener brewing reportedly will be playing a larger role in Miller Lite's ads. That's a good move, too.

Seeing authenticity and distinctive product facts produce results in the market should not have come as a shock. MillerCoors already had a seven-year long internal case-study to prove it would work.
The MillerCoors premium brand with the longest streak  of sales growth used to be called "Original Coors." Its momentum got rolling when the "Banquet" name was resurrected, and packaging was returned to its heritage. Ads touted the beer's distinctive ingredients.
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With all this solid learning, you'd think the lesson of authenticity and tradition must now have finally settled in at MillerCoors. Think again.

At the distributor meeting, "special edition" Coors Light graphics were also announced for the summer. According to the same top marketing guy, the young drinkers who value the authenticity of the Miller Lite white can also want new ways to "badge themselves." Huh? 

He called it "millennial-driven design" and here's what that looks like on a can.
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The idea is to follow up on the brand's "shatter graphic" used in an earlier limited-edition package.

And another new Coors Light design will arrive in the market this season, in the form of the citrusy Coors Light "Summer Brew" sunshine/mountain/ shatter-esque/orange/yellow look.

All this special-edition graphic disruption seeks to ape whatever success Coca-Cola has had with its limited-edition themed cans.
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But soda pop isn't beer. To us, after a couple of decades of graphic disruption package designs, Miller Lite wisely zigs toward building authenticity. But Coors Light mistakenly zags in the opposite direction, obscuring (literally) authenticity in favor of the avant garde. Go figure.
Since its creation, MillerCoors has yet to demonstrate they can grow both their big light-beer brands at the same time. If the intent now is to have one brand take advantage of authenticity, while the other chases "millennial design," we expect no change in trend: one will grow, one will not. 






"The light beer of craft beer" and more for the summer ahead

3/26/2014

 
The mother lode of beer volume in this country is light beer. Five of the top-seven brands. So any brewer looking to become a major factor in the business will ultimately set their sights on Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite real estate. 

There have been plenty of light beer entries over the years, most offering pretty much me-too versions of each other. But the summer ahead promises perhaps more serious competition for Big Beer's big brands, and it looks like the attack will come from multiple competitor offerings, all focused on a feature that hasn't been a light beer strength.
Attacking a weakness

While Miller Lite has made half-hearted attempts at touting "more taste," few drinkers give any major light beer credit for much taste at all. Refreshing? You bet. Good party beer? Sure. But taste? Not so much. 
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More taste: An already abandoned Miller Lite attempt pretty much ignored by drinkers
So, guess how competition will attack.
1. Corona Light

"More taste than mainstream light beer" will form the center of Corona Light's effort. The brand's new TV advertising takes a "grownup's light beer" angle with "a light beer you can actually taste" claim. 
2. Session ales

As we noted back in November, session IPA craft brands are set to take off. Something of a hybrid, at least as far as traditional craft beers are concerned, we called them "The light beer of craft beer." They're lower in alcohol, and less heavily flavored than what most folks think of as "craft." But they're still significantly more flavorful than Big Beer's light beers, and very nearly as drinkable. That many of these ales will be their brewery's first venture into cans underscores how seriously they aim to compete with the big light beers. And names like "All Day" and "Nooner" take direct aim at light-beer volume.
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Just as "more flavor" was the key to successfully positioning craft beer relative to Big Beer generally, the session ales will be aiming to repeat history, specifically in the light-beer segment.

Since none of Big Beer's light beers is particularly healthy at the moment, the summer ahead already promised to be challenging. Expect Corona Light and the flurry of new session ales to add to that.

A word of caution 

Still, here's a caution for the craft guys: Before hoping for a history-repeat, remember the biggest blow to the old premium brands was self-inflcited. It came when Big Beer launched their light-beer siblings. Just as "Lite beer from Miller" took the life out of High Life, some measure of session-ale volume will inevitably be sourced in current craft beers.



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    The Author

    Dan Fox is a real beer guy.

    For more than half his 30-year career at ad agency, Foote, Cone & Belding, he ran the Coors Brewing account. Leading a group of dozens of advertising professionals, Dan also personally wrote the Pete Coors "Somewhere near Golden, Colorado" commercials, designed the Coors NASCAR graphics, authored sales-convention speeches, and most important of all, formulated marketing strategy for virtually every Coors brand, including Coors Light, Keystone, Killian's Irish Red and more. His proudest achievement? "Our team had every Coors brand growing at once."

    Over his advertising career, Dan was personally involved in the analysis, planning and creation of thousands of ads for a variety of products and services. By way of this blog, he freely shares his expertise about what works, and what doesn't, when it comes to selling beer.

    If you're in the beer-marketing business--or just interested in the subject--you may want to read what "HeyBeerDan" has to say.

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