Heads Up: Coors Light - hits the spot
Reactive campaigns can be some of the smartest ways to capitalise on an opportunity that presents itself out of the blue. Commenting on some recent legislation, a branding mishap of one of your targets or a news story about a company exec - being alert and nimble could open up opportunities for creative campaigning that we can see as a gift.
We can also respond to a mistake regarding our own brand which is what happens in this case study. Introducing the Pratfall Effect: where we tend to like someone or something more when they make a mistake and draw benefits from this error.
The Brief: Make something creative out of a broken ad.
As the format of reactive campaigns suggests, there isn’t a ton of time to come up with a response that is going to capture the attention of the masses. However, Coors Light jumped on this opportunity with an incredible result.
The Setting: Los Angeles Angels, Japanese baseball player, Shohei Ohtani unintentionally smashed one of the squares of a digital advertising screen with a baseball during a game. The LED screen contained a Coors Light beer ad, a square of which was blacked out for the remainder of the game.
The Campaign: The Coors Light ad team saw an opportunity rather than a problem and jumped into action, creating a ‘lights out’ campaign which is an excellent example of a very successful reactive marketing campaign.
They created a video and digital ad graphics that now included the blacked out square to show at the next game as well as creating a commemorative can with the signature black square. The new ad was accompanied by the tagline ‘Hits the spot’.
Watch this for a short overview » Campaign Summary Video «
Stats: The campaign went viral resulting in the commemorative beer can being sold out in 24 hours and perhaps the biggest success of all - fans of the baseball player Shohei Ohtani requesting that Coors start selling their products in Japan, a market with fierce competition that they were not currently selling in.
Why does it stand out?
➡ ️It was incredibly reactive with the ideas being created within hours of the incident
➡ Not only is the concept clever but the accompanying copy is smart, relevant and memorable
➡ ️They have captured a sporting crowd without huge player endorsements or official sponsorships
Their clever and quick thinking excited sports fans with the can allowing consumers to own a piece of sporting history. It shows how quick thinking and execution can allow a brand to tap into, and commemorate, a viral moment.
Heads Up Challenge: Thinking quickly
(Copy the below into a working document that you can use for the challenge each week)
Identify a target. Search for a recent scandal that relates to them. How could you respond to such a story in a creative and memorable way?
Target:
Idea 1:
Idea 2:
Idea 3:
Set aside a weekly 15 minute slot to complete these weekly creative tasks and why not schedule a call with others on your team to talk through your thoughts on this topic and share ideas for you to try out?
Heads Up is a weekly creative digest that encourages animal advocates to take inspiration from case studies of creative campaign tactics outside of our movement.
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