So MillerCoors has recently launched some updated packaging for the Champagne of Beers. That’s Miller High Life, but I refuse to call it anything else because the tagline ‘Champagne of Beers’ is awesome.
It’s been a little while since they did anything to the packaging, so I personally do think it was due. The logo has been minorly tweaked, but the packaging on the cases is where you’ll really notice things. Even if you’re not very familiar with the brand, you’ll notice things right away. The ‘Girl in the Moon’ logo adorns the sides of the packaging now and the front/back is much simpler and fitting for the brand. It doesn’t feel like the box is shouting at you, it feels more polished. Other minor tweaks to logo sizing for example are there, but that’s about it.
In terms of how I view the brand, everything about the changes seem fitting to me. For a brand that also has apparently been seeing growth in recent years with consumers changing their beer choices with the economic rollercoaster, I think the update was well deserved and hope that it does well.
So in the past few weeks apparently a wide spread, seemingly (but also much disputed) consumer-generated drinking game popped up and started gaining lots of viral traction online. The interesting thing about it though is not so much the game itself, but more the many questions that surrounded it.
Known only as Bros Icing Bros (which lived online at this website before being shut down this week), the core focus of the game was the sweet malt beverage, Smirnoff Ice.
The game was quite simple as the entire premise was that if someone approached you with a bottle of Smirnoff Ice and you didn’t have one of your own to fend off the attack, you’d be ‘Iced’ and have to get down on one knee and consume the bottle of Smirnoff that your attacker approached you with. Given the need to have your own ammo to arm yourself against these sniper like attacks and the apparent desire by many college students to ‘Ice’ their friends, cases of Smirnoff began moving fast from the shelves, leading some to believe that it was merely a viral marketing ploy by Smirnoff’s parent company Diageo, known for successful viral marketing campaigns, to move products.
Move products it apparently did, but many people, myself included, doubted that it was a viral marketing ploy by the company because it was essentially one huge binge drinking game. It was very hard to understand why the company, viral marketing campaign or not, would want to be associated with a.) binge drinking and b.) people essentially using the product to make fun of the product. Individuals interviewed in some articles made this clear when they would indicated one wouldn’t want be iced because Smirnoff Ice is a “pretty terrible” drink.
Well, answers came yesterday as Diageo apparently confirmed that the past few weeks of games and the online site www.BrosIcingBros.com were not part of a marketing campaign. The site is down, saying only “We had a good run Bros…”
Right now, the Bro the started the whole thing, apparently only known as ‘Joe’, may or may not be in hot water for copyright/trademark issues stemming from the game and the site.
Should be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Miller Coors, the No. 2 U.S. brewer, is getting ready to launch a new craft beer, that is brewed in small quantities and is marketed exclusively through digital and word-of-mouth channels.
Normally I don’t geek out over things like this because the marketing approaches don’t tend to be all that inspiring, engaging or revolutionary after you dig into them a bit, but this one has me hooked.
For starters, the brew, Colorado Native Lager, is unique in that it that it uses “99.9%” Colorado-grown ingredients, a percentage that includes the locally made glass bottles.”
That serves as the starting point for what the brewer has used to its marketing advantage in the past with beers like Blue Moon; creating a feeling of ‘discovery’ in consumers. The thing about a craft beer, a small-lot single vineyard wine, or an underground band, is that not everyone knows about it of course. Whether through purely knowing or consuming, the consumer feels a level of prestige or exclusivity. Nana-nana-boo-boo…. (See also: “Heineken drinkers are posers“)
To create that feeling, the brand is apparently putting all its eggs in one basket; that basket being digital marketing via social and mobile media. But what’s taking it to the next level is the ‘SnapTag.’ Tags will be on every bottle and users can take photos of the tag with their mobile device, text it to a specified number. From there the brand can engage in digital discussions with the drinkers, which further down the road will lead to customized marketing efforts directed to each users. Great way to generate engagement, build loyalty and just enhance intrigue.
There is so much more to the program and I definitely recommend taking a quick read of the article on Ad Age. It’s definitely apparent that the brand seems committed to being a part of their consumers lifestyles and finding ways to evolve with them.
Of course, there will be debate by beer afficianados over whether this is a true craft beer brand (see Blue Moon), but regardless of that it’s great to see the brand taking a different approach to reaching its consumer and truly giving them something special.
It will be sold only in Colorado, at least at first.
Up until this point, watches have served a few key purposes. Of course, the importance of telling the wearer of one what time it is has been key to their success over the years, however, we can’t forget innovations that helped pushed them into new and better applications, extending their reach and value beyond the mere aspect of showing you the hour/minutes of the day.
First came the watch that integrated the calculator on keypad, arming the watch with the power of a Texas Instruments super-calculator. At 12:45pm someone asked you to find out the square root of the number 765 you say? Before this innovation hit, you just weren’t in a position to do that. Then came the ever-successful remote control watch. This came in especially handy in high school when TVs were installed in the classroom and students were able to surreptitiously turn on and off the TV during class, much to the surprise and bewilderment of many teachers and substitutes. Lastly on the innovation front for watches was the indiglo light which took a mere backlit display to a whole new level, allowing the wearer to not only see the time at night, but also utilize the watch as a flashlight in a number of instances.
Well, it appears the watch has done it again and with a level of design-style.
Enter, the Happy Hour Watch.
If you like to know the time, but also regularly find yourself in situation where beverages are served that require a bottle opener, well borrowing and modifying a line from an unnamed beer manufacturer, “This watch is for you!” With digital and analog read outs, a solid/large face design and a sharp looking layout, as a watch guy myself, I’m pretty impressed. When you think about what the watches above looked like back in the day, the Happy Hour Watch is on its way to revolutionizing the industry. Well perhaps not revolutionizing, but having fun and delivering with some style, the makers are on the right path with that.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
So, Burger King has decided that many Americans, specifically those in the South Beach region, want to crack open a tall, cold one when they sit down to eat their Whoppers. Hey, who can blame them?
As such, they’ve confirmed they’ll be opening a ‘Whopper Bar’ where you can get your drink on Budweiser and Bud Light style. Looks like they may open a few elsewhere around the county, in fitting cities like Vegas and NYC, but I’m struggling to figure out why South Beach to get started.
Regardless, looks like you might be able to get some new toppings on your Whopper too, but no word as to whether or not they’ll use some of those brewskis to make you beer-battered onion rings or beer battered-french fries.
So what does this all mean for the Burger King of the future and where they go next? I could foresee The King running a high end, exclusive, bottle service only night club featuring his own premium blend vodka, champagne and of course, Whoppers.
