@HeyBeerDan
  • WHO IS "HeyBeerDan?"
  • TITLE INDEX to all articles
  • CONTACT HeyBeerDan

"More alcohol!" Product distinctiveness collides with social irresponsibility

12/26/2016

 
The high road. That's the map MillerCoors follows in its corporate messages proclaiming "great responsibility." 
Picture
Still, as with every such high-minded uttering, actions speak louder than words. ​In that vein, here's MillerCoors' newest roadside effort for its cheap-beer brand, Milwaukee's Best...
Picture
And what's a beer drinker get from all that alcohol?
Maybe their corporate-responsibility messaging's use of "great beer" was cleverly meant to exclude "cheap beer." Regardless, there's a definite lack of "great responsibility" in this ad.

Alcohol-content messaging: A short history

​
There was a time when this sort of advertising gambit would have been nixed by government regulators before it ever made it into print. But in a way, it's sort of fitting that MillerCoors is the brewer pushing high-alcohol content now.

Back in 1987, it was Coors that sued the federal government to end a longstanding restriction, and permit alcohol-content to appear on beer labels. The legal argument back then was that commercial free-speech was being violated by the ban. So Coors submitted a label showing its alcohol content (around 4% at the time) for federal government approval, and it was promptly rejected. Game on.

Never pointed out by Coors in court was their real motivation for wanting alcohol numbers on their labels: eliminating a competitive disadvantage. At the time, beer drinkers thought all Coors beers were lower in alcohol than Budweiser or Miller High Life, and getting the ABV numbers on the label would show that wasn't so. The federal courts ruled in Coors' favor, but in the end, the brewery--fearing pressure from the likes of Mothers Against Drunk Driving--chose not to take the next step of actually promoting alcohol-content on their labels.

Until now.

Happy New Year!

Just in time for New Year's Eve festivities, the latest Milwaukee's Best billboards went up in several markets (Milwaukee and Northern Indiana, to name two). The message: A red-letter celebration of high alcohol content. And how better to display this sort of message than alongside interstate highways, just in time to lure New Year's Eve shoppers on their way to the beer store before celebrating?!?

In so doing, Milwaukee's Best makes a larger, and--forgive the pun--more potent point. Although not in so many words, the unexpectedly high alcohol content--nearly 50% higher than regular beer--communicates an underlying message as unsubtle as it is irresponsible...
Picture
Not a real Milwaukee's Best ad... but the message is theirs for sure.
In choosing this strategy, the MillerCoors brand people ignored a number of other points they could've made about their beer (including these from their own website). No taste claim. No ice-brewing process uniqueness. No unique ingredients. No attempt at anything resembling a "great beer" quality message. Just more alcohol in a cheap beer. And there's only one reason some stooge would want that.

To give the devil his due, this is product distinctiveness, a strategy for which we have long advocated.

Sadly in this case, it's also socially repugnant.

Picture

Merry Christmas! And thank you for your gift to us.

12/19/2016

 
Picture
For us?!?
What a nice surprise! Our web-hosting service tells us you visited our pages more than 185,000 times during 2016. We're so proud of this gift, we saved the red ribbon and included it on our banner up above. Thank you very much.

Our holiday wish for you is the company of friends and family during this beautiful season, and good health and good humor throughout the new year. 
Picture
Picture
"Hey Santa... while you're up, would ya grab us one, too?"

Picture
<<Previous

    Subscribe to New-article updates from HeyBeerDan

    * Note: Certain video links may not function in emailed articles.
    Picture

    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.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.