MillerCoors Brands Ready To Spark Beer Drinker Conversations Through Series Of New Digital Content Partnerships

18 Mar 2014 --- The typical 25-year-old turns to the digital world for almost everything: sports, music, comedy, weather, advice. Anything that matters to them, they want to find it on their smart phone.

MillerCoors is going further than ever before to exceed this expectation, thanks to several new digital content partnerships designed to ensure a strong connection between the company's beers and the legal-drinking-age Millennial consumers who are doing everything online, from planning their night out with friends to discovering the latest music or a new video that has to be shared with everyone they know.

"In any bar, you'll see people at every table with a beer in one hand and their phone in the other," said Andy England, chief marketing officer at MillerCoors. "Our consumers live online and expect the brands that matter to them to embrace the digital world. Ultimately, our marketing always has been and always will be about that conversation between friends. That's why people get together at a bar. It's why they have friends over to watch the game. It's what beer is all about, and now that conversation increasingly is starting in the digital space. With these partnerships, we're better positioned than ever to be part of that conversation."

The new partnerships feature a refreshing new look at some of the great names in music, with Complex Media; a special music tour featuring local chefs and artists with Spotify; comedy platforms with Comedy Central and Funny or Die; the creation of a specially programmed version of theCHIVE with content from Woven Digital; a real-time campaign using weather data with The Weather Company's WeatherFX division; and the creation of a technology-driven publishing platform with AOL Advertising that leverages its family of media brands, leading technology offerings and partner network.

On the music front, Coors Light and Miller Fortune are partnering with Complex Media, the premier multimedia lifestyle destination for younger legal-drinking-age men. Coors Light and Complex will introduce fans to another side of some of the "coldest" musicians in the industry, as seen through the lens of a fellow artist. Whether it's a rapper from Atlanta showing his counterpart around the city where he got started or a West Coast producer talking about how his roots impacted his career, Coors Light unTAPPED will transform how people experience music.

Miller Fortune, which launched nationally in February, is partnering with Complex Media to develop exclusive content with key influencers in the music, entertainment, fashion and art industries. The influencers will do a digital video series sharing the bold moves they made to obtain their current status, and what their next bold move might be. Each influencer will hold an event showcasing their passion point.

For Redd's Apple Ale, it's all about comedy. Through a new partnership with Funny or Die, the brand will bring fans the Oddball Comedy Festival Tour. It kicks off with the Road to Oddball, sponsored by Redd's, an online contest giving up-and-coming comedians the chance to compete for an appearance at one of the 15 Road to Oddball comedy showcases and a chance to win the grand prize: joining the Oddball Comedy Festival Tour for 20 major-market amphitheater shows.

Redd's also is partnering with Comedy Central, co-creating an original, weekly web series rooted entirely in improv and inspired by real fan tweets. The hilarious, spontaneous videos will be hosted by a stand-up comedian. Additionally, Coors Light once again is partnering with Comedy Central to create a series of digital shorts featuring stand-up comedian and "Crowd Goes Wild" anchor Michael Kosta and his special bond with … the Coors Light Refresherator, a customized Coors Light vending machine.

Smith & Forge, a new hard cider launching nationally this month, will make a splash online in part thanks to a partnership with theCHIVE.com and Woven Digital, the largest male-focused digital media and entertainment company. Woven, the voice of the connected male, will create the digital home of "Built Strong Week" on theCHIVE.com. This is a special week of programming on the Discovery Channel to celebrate the launch of Smith & Forge. Online, consumers will be able to go a level deeper and find a custom experience with video content produced by Woven Originals, photo galleries and home page takeovers across a number of Woven's top men's sites.

Blue Moon Brewing Company is working with Spotify, an award-winning digital music service with more than 25 million active users, to produce the "Follow the Moon" tour, bringing music lovers and artists together to celebrate the "artfully crafted" lifestyle. Featuring events in five markets timed to coincide with full moons throughout the spring and summer, the "Follow the Moon" tour will feature great music, local visual artists and food from local chefs. Content from the events will be shared through a co-branded microsite, where online fans also can check out interviews with talent, behind-the-scenes footage and custom playlists.

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company is teaming up with The Weather Company to usher in the return of its hugely popular Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. Leinenkugel's will leverage the company's WeatherFX data platform to reach consumers in real time, using a weather trigger driven by sales data and local weather conditions to reach beer drinkers when they're most interested in Leinie's Summer Shandy. These weather-triggered desktop and mobile ads will let beer drinkers know when it's time to go enjoy a Shandy. Content will highlight local weather and provide customized, locally relevant activities and suggestions based on the weather.

In partnership with MLBAM, Leinenkugel's will curate digital content through the #SummerShandyAllStars program by engaging baseball fans 21 and older via @MLB Instagram and housing submissions on a Leinenkugel's-branded landing page within MLB.com. Those voted best fan pictures will have a chance to win weekly prizes and one grand prize, tickets to the all-star game.

With AOL Advertising, the brewer will launch the BrewPub Newsroom -- a content series aimed at legal-drinking-age consumers that is informed by proprietary insights and conversations happening on social media. AOL's BrewPub Newsroom team will create and curate independent editorial inspired by topics and trends gleaned directly from customer chatter on Twitter and from consumer data pulled from AOL's vast advertising operation. Advertising from Blue Moon, Coors Light, Miller Lite and Redd's will be anchored adjacent to the customized content across the network.

The BrewPub Newsroom also will include a featured segment on HuffPost Live sponsored by Miller Lite, titled HuffBros Live, where Millennial men will host conversations (live and via social media) on topics such as dating, sports and style.

"The purchase decision is a never-ending cycle in beer," said England. "Our guy may be in the convenience-store during the day to buy a 12-pack for his house, then at the bar with his buddies that night. Every time he opens a cooler door or calls out to a bartender, he's making a new decision. That means we must have a continuous conversation with our legal-drinking-age consumer. And we have to show that we understand what matters to him. It's about customization, localization and socialization, and that means our marketing plans are increasingly about digital."

New York-based Initiative, the digital media agency of record for MillerCoors, helped identify and execute these partnerships.