Coors Light / Brand Activation / 4 days
Introducing a shareable summer experience that doesn’t leave you broke.
Nuts & Bolts
Coors Light Asked Us…
To get harried, stressed-out 21-34-year-olds, who feel they are always on, to choose Coors Light in their moments of pause.
To create a summer brand activation that would connect the transformative nature of music to their beer, a brand built for chill.
We Got to Work…
Examining cultural expectations about summertime.
Interviewing our audience to learn how the ideal summer differs from their actual experience.
Brainstorming music-centered activations that wouldn’t break budgets.
In the End…
We saw an opportunity for Coors to provide an exciting live-streamed summer concert experience for our audience.
We pitched our idea to the folks at Coors Light.
Our idea was selected as the winner of the VCU Brandcenter 2020 Sprint!
The Brief
Business Situation
Ultimately, the Coors Light team needed to make their beer cool again. After the launch of their "Made to Chill" campaign, the brand began to return to growth. We need to further this momentum.
Cultural Tension
Music is an equalizer, connecting people across borders, time, class, and racial lines. However, we found that summer is far from an equalizing force.
Culturally, summer is depicted as a time for exploration and freedom.
But, that kind of summer requires both money and time — something fewer and fewer 21-34-year-olds have these days. Attending a music festival like Coachella costs more than two weeks pay for the average person in this age group. This is a price tag many cannot afford.
“I feel like I’m supposed to have fun in the summer, especially now while I’m still young. [...] But I also have student loans, so I either have to work a second job or stay home.”
- Kate, 27
*Based on 2018 estimates as featured in Money
Strategy
Remove the barriers to chill.
Concept
Coors Tours: Free Music. Unlimited Chill.
Bringing three concerts to one venue at the same time by pairing live streaming technology with the silent disco phenomenon.
The Event
Every summer weekend, dozens of concerts and festivals are held across the country at the same time. The more we thought about it, the more we realized how many barriers are baked into the traditional live music experience. We already knew there were financial barriers to attendance, but we realized that the limitations of time and space present another obstacle. You simply can’t be in three places at once. Luckily for us, modern technology means concertgoers do not have to choose.
What if you could hear Lady Gaga perform in St. Louis at the same time Tame Impala played in New York?
The Tech:
Breaking the Distance Barrier
Our event mirrors the silent disco phenomenon, where audiences put on noise canceling headphones and can alternate between different types of music. However, unlike ordinary silent discos, which typically feature DJs, our event uses live streaming technology to broadcast concerts that are happening around the country.
Attendees can switch back and forth between different channels, allowing them to “attend” three concerts at the same time. When attendees change channels, the color of the headphones changes as well.
The Music:
Breaking the Genre Barrier
It is important that the concerts and festivals Coors Tours chooses to livestream represent a variety of artists across genres. Younger audiences largely reject the traditional boundaries of genre, with 97% of Gen Z women regularly listening to at least five musical genres. This is also helpful from a logistical standpoint, as it gives Coors Tours additional flexibility when choosing artists to showcase.
The Locations:
Breaking the “Dead Zone” Barrier
Coors Tours will be held in locations known as “Dead Zones”. These are the designated market areas (DMAs) with the lowest number of concerts per 100,000 residents. They are smaller cities that often get left out, forcing audiences to travel to attend the shows they want to see.
Three large screens, similar to drive-in movie screens, will live stream performances.
Guests with 21 and up wristbands will be able to redeem one free can of beer from the Coors Light branded beer garden. This will excite existing Coors Light lovers and allow people who don’t usually drink Coors Light to give it a chance.
The User Experience
Step 1: Check ID
As guests enter the Coors Tours, they will hand over their ID cards.
Step 2: Checkout Headphones
The ID card will allow guests to check out a pair of silent disco headphones. When leaving the activation, guests will return their headphones in order to get their ID cards back.
Step 3: Receive 21+ Wristband
As ID cards are being checked for headphones, guests who are 21 and up will be given a drinking wristband to enjoy a free Coors Light.
Step 4: Stream. Enjoy. Chill.
After receiving their headphones and wristbands (if eligible), guests are able to start streaming music and enjoying themselves.
The Promotion
We will use social polls on Coors’ owned Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages to allow users to choose between three potential cities. Users can encourage other people to vote for their city, creating organic awareness for both the brand and the event. Once a city is chosen, it will be announced on Coors’ owned channels and by the artists being streamed at the event.
Local influencers will be hired to interact with the Coors Tours bus, sharing content that will promote the tour and increase broader brand awareness and affinity.