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Bud Light used to own that title, but those days are over, at least for now. Coors Light is in that #1 spot now as the college basketball tournaments unfold.
Here’s the deal…
Coors Light is on a roll, but becoming the bestselling beer nationally in the US. grocery channel following a remarkable 2023 is where they want to be, especially as the college basketball tournaments play out.
According to Circana data Coors Light is No. 1 in nearly all metrics, from dollar sales and volume sales to household penetration and display dollars for the 52-week period that ended on February 25.
“Taking the No. 1 spot in grocery is an amazing milestone that positions Coors Light for sustained, long-term growth,” Andrew McGuire, chief commercial solutions officer for Molson Coors told Beer & Beyond. “We’re only getting started.”
To keep the momentum going, Coors Light is making a big push toward basketball fans, starting with a series of promotions for the men’s college basketball tournament this month and next.
To kick things off Coors Light has teamed up with ESPN to sponsor the network’s ESPN Tournament Challenge, the #1 bracket game. Last year, it hosted more than 20 million brackets. At one point, fans were filling out more than 26,000 brackets a minute.) This year, millions of fans will create their brackets on Coors Light-branded pages.
“Partnering with ESPN is a huge moment for us,” says Vi Tran, senior brand manager for Coors Light. “They are the #1 bracket game, with millions of people visiting their site during March. That means millions of fans will see Coors Light when they build their brackets and hopefully, they’ll choose to chill with us during the whole tournament.”
Unfortunately as most of us know most brackets will get busted long before the championship game. so Coors Light has also created the “Don’t Let Your Bracket Break You” program to help soften the blow.
Fans can submit their broken brackets for a chance to win prizes, including ESPN+ subscriptions, Venmo gift cards and custom Coors Light sneakers.
“We know that when you fill out a bracket, you have something like a 1 in 120.2 billion chance of getting everything right,” says Tran. “You’re most likely going to have a busted bracket at some point. So Coors Light’s message to our consumers is to not let your bracket break you.”
To get the word out, Coors Light created plenty with branded coasters, beverage wraps and stadium cups for bars and restaurants. “You’re going to see the ‘Don’t Let Your Bracket Break You’ everywhere,” added Tran.
