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(Courtesy Molson Coors)
American Craft Beer has long argued that a beer’s imaging is an important part of its success. And almost 16 years ago, Coors Light introduced cans with mountains that turned blue when the beer was cold, an idea that changed everything for the brand.
Here’s the deal…
Lyle Small, who owns a small business, Chromatic Technologies, Inc. (CTI) had never even tasted beer when he came to the brewery with a vision for how to supercharge a beer brand that made its bones from its association with cold.
Lyle Small, founder of Chromatic Technologies, Inc
Small, who founded CTI in 1993, was working with sunlight-activated and glow-in-the-dark ink technologies. But thermochromic ink technologies held the most potential. “I always had a dream that a beverage company would adopt this,” Small told Beer & Beyond.
And finally it happened, Coors Light cans with mountains that turn blue at approximately 46 degrees Fahrenheit, went into production. First in 2007 in the UK, then in Canada in 2008, finally reaching the US in 2009.
The beer’s temperature-sensitive, color-changing beer cans changed everything… It was“a home run that exceeded all of our expectations, ”, Small said.
Coors Light soon surpassed Miller Lite as the country’s No. 3 best-selling beer. And by 2011, two years after introducing the tech on cans in the US, Coors Light overtook Budweiser as the No. 2 seller in the country, according to Beer Marketers Insights.
And now, almost 16 years after the color-changing technology first appeared on Coors Light’s cans, the imaging is as relevant as ever.
“It’s really important to Coors Light as a brand. We’re the only beer brand that’s cold lagered, cold filtered and cold packaged, so we really want to easily communicate that to consumers,” says Chris Steele, senior marketing director for Coors Light. “The blue mountains are a manifestation of our commitment to cold.”
And now Coor’s Light’s color changing cans are part of its DNA, a simple visual cue derived from a complex scientific process, that changed the beer world.
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