Hit the Beaches
It's hard to believe that we're almost half way through 2011. Where does time go? It's more and more fleeting the older you get. No season blows by faster than summer. Blink and it's gone. The 4th of July holiday weekend is upon us - time to think about the beach. Who doesn't love the beach and everything closely associated with it? Hanging out at the beach house, curled up with a great beach read, maybe listening to beach music! Can you say The Beach Men? Or are they now The Beach Grandpa's - no longer The Beach Boys of the 60's!
Many brands are firmly associated with and forever linked to the summer months - Kingsford Charcoal, Good Humor and Country Time Lemonade are classic examples. Being a brand that's synonymous with a season or seasonal location is both a blessing and a curse. The going is great for a few months, but what do you do the other eight or nine months? As a marketer, it's rare to see a brand release themselves from the seasonal trap through smart positioning and bold creative that breaks through.
Corona is the ultimate "summer" beer. It's the perfect choice for any beach or pool activity. They've built a strong following of brand advocates through their Caribbean beach chair commercials featuring various interesting personal exchanges between a guy and a girl relaxing seaside. It's worked so well that Corona is indelibly etched as the "beach and vacation" beer brand of choice. It's a great strategic premise, but one that is extremely limiting.
Breaking a product out of a successfully defined niche is a daunting and difficult task. You don't want to alienate your core customer, yet business dictates finding new avenues for sales velocity. What Corona is doing in their most recent campaign is brilliant from both a strategic positioning and creative execution perspective.
What is most revealing is the simplicity of the tagline - "Corona - Find Your Beach." Taking the Corona state of mind and extending it beyond sun, sand and surf and putting it in fresh and unexpected places - from mountain vistas to Big Sur cliffs and New York City rooftops is extending the brand's connection at its finest. In the TV spots - seasons and stunning settings pass before your eyes with various young couples and friends sharing the view. What is the constant is their Corona beer.
From a brand positioning perspective, it is all about taking Corona beyond being a "beach" beer position without losing that valuable brand equity position they've spent years and millions building. They've given Corona another reason for being beyond sun-drenched tranquil oceans and beaches. Corona isn't just for the beach. Many times brands suffer indelible harm by trying to distance themselves from their core audience associations and position.
The "Corona - Find Your Beach" mantra works so well based on the simple premise of taking a physical place and transferring it to a state of mind. What a perfect way to glide into a holiday weekend. Here's hoping that everyone finds their beach this weekend in whatever form it may be!
Keywords: Corona; Corona - Find Your Beach; Beer Marketing; Beer Advertising;
I love the Corona commercials and I agree that this extension is picture perfect (so to speak). Note to other beer advertisers - all done without the jackass cliches and slapstick.
I am going to the package store, slicing a few limes and on my way to the beach. Can't wait to hear the Beach Boys and Mungo Jerry.
I am definitely a 'seasonal' Corona drinker beginning with Memorial Day when we open the pool for the season. There’s nothing like a kicking back with a bucket of ice cold Corona's on a hot summer day.
Very cogent William. Indeed one of Corona's competitors Sam Adams sells their regular offering and then has "seasonal" beers Sam's Summer, Oktoberfest, Winter lager and Nobel Pils (nee Spring) in order to broaden their customer base without ticking off their regulars. Not being locked into a niche while still being true and not alienating your existing customer core is far more difficult than most consumers recognize or care about. As a "merchant" of many years I can attest to the great difficulty in doing this correctly. I say "Bravo" to Corona but I still think their 'beer" tastes like tap water.
There is nothing quite like the anticipation of basking in the hot sun at the beach, feeling like you are about to fry from the heat, you get up and run and jump in the water, ARGHHHH, you forget you are in CT and the water is always subzero. Wow, it sure is nice down here at a beach where the water fits those Corona ads. Cheers and a happy Fourth to all.
Having worked on Heineken, Amstel Light, Red Stripe and Rheingold, I think the brewski market is one of the most complex and exhilarating there is. Years ago it was divided into two clear categories - domestic (mega or regional brewers) and imported (i.e. German). And the target audience was pretty much divided into white and blue collar males. All of whom were extremely loyal to their brand. Then the domestic subdivided into regular and lite while the imported market expanded to include Italy and Mexico. Then came the explosion of craft beer and the discovery that (gasp!) women drank beer too. Today people talk knowingly about the merits of IPAs, kolsch and lagers. So I think Corona deserves a cold one for staking out an image that's fresh, simple and easy to understand.
"Marge, beer me. The Duff, Marge, the Duff!"
Wow, Bill! You nailed it! We actually were talking about getting beer for the weekend and someone said, "How about Corona? Got limes?" And the overall response was positive and in the "Good idea!" vein. Then, as we were kicking back sipping them, someone held one up and said "Found my beach..." ; )