COORS LIGHT

THE LEGACY BRAND IS SELLING BEER BY SELLING ANYTHING BUT BEER.

When Coors Light wanted NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes to star in a summer 2022 ad, it had a problem: NFL players aren’t allowed to appear in beer commercials that show beer being consumed. Not to be deterred, Coors Light created a full-blown popculture moment by acknowledging the rules with a wink and creating something else to sell—a silver flashlight named the Coors Light. The flashlight quickly sold out—and Coors Light donated all the proceeds to the Kansas

City Chiefs quarterback’s youthprogram-focused charitable foundation, 15 and the Mahomies.

Mahomes, agencies Mischief and 1UP Sports Marketing, and the beer brand continued the gag in 2023 with the Coors Light Bear, a bearshaped golf club headcover that became a bona fide hit.

Coors Light is also spearheading a companywide effort at Molson Coors to replace plastic six-pack rings with recyclable cardboard and make its consumer-facing packaging reusable, recyclable, compostable, or made of at least 30% recycled content by 2025. Since Coors Light’s cardboardsleeve packaging launched last spring with a pop-up sustainable concept store in Brooklyn, the brand has phased out single-use plastic rings in Canada and made progress in the

U.S. this year.

The brand also put its ad space to work for the climate. Its “Chillboards” campaign used Miami roofs as canvases for slogans written in white paint that reflects

85% of sunlight and keeps buildings cool.

“We always look to balance long-term brand building with culturally relevant campaigns,” says Coors marketing VP Marcelo Proenca Pascoa. —Jeff Beer