Brand Marketers are Online: The Coors Silver Bullet Train
Are brand dollars online? Yes.
According to MarketingVox, Sara Mirelez, brand director for the Coors family of brands at Coors Brewing, and Levi Patterson, account director at Avenue A/Razorfish have orchestrated the arrival of the Silver Bullet Train at 4:53 p.m. to sites frequented by males 21-34 starting in mid-April .
Sites include ESPN.com, Yahoo.com and the testosterone-charged Maxim.com.
What’s in it for the males? An invitation to a local happy hour, of course, - “Catch the 4:53 to Happy Hour” - featuring a frosty cold one from Coors.
As Stuart Elliott points out today in the New York Times:
“The focus on the online elements is indicative of the growing importance of the Internet for marketers.”
Mr. Elliott goes on to burnish his point by naming brand names who’ve stepped into the limelight of online advertising including:
- Johnson & Johnson
- Microsoft (a ContextWeb client)
- Nike
- Anheuser Busch (originator of the bud.tv campaign)
- Miller Brewing Company
Sean McGrath, vice president and management director at Draft FCB, goes on to say in regards to the Coors Campaign:
“It’s getting back to the roots, back to a brand promise of cold refreshment.”
-and this is the point for brand marketers. The brand promise is safe online and the target is accessible with tracking and analytics that speak to the bottom line and are unavailable in big media…
Why wouldn’t you?
Peter Marino, a spokesman for SABMiller (the Miller Brewing Company), talks about why they’re advertising not only on Miller websites but also websites containing their target demographic - espn.com, maxim.com, etc.:
“We want a balance between hosting content in a Miller environment and syndicated content in external environments, which have large audiences the content providers have already aggregated.”
Come online, Ms. or Mr. Reluctant Brand Marketer… it’s OK. The brand that hesitates may end up lost online, otherwise.
-- Tiffany Sumner
Sphere It