Ad of the Day: Coors Pure lets its beer do the (pep) talking
We all know a few of them. Some of us are them. The marathoners. The vegan/gluten-free/paleo evangelists. The hardcore outdoorsmen. The health and wellness devotees who can’t help but be, well, just a little obnoxious in their unfailing dedication and righteousness. Coors isn’t one of them. But the beer behemoth does want to do better by the planet and by consumers – and reward all of us for trying our best during a challenging time, even if we didn’t PR in our latest 5k and may have had a few too many ‘cheat days’ this month.
That’s why the launch campaign for Coors Pure, its first USDA-certified organic beer, celebrates the small health and wellness wins in our daily lives. This includes everything from taking a ‘walk-run’ away from your kids to joining the standing desk craze.
The ‘because you tried today’ campaign playfully promotes Coors Pure, the new brewski made with nothing more than barley, hops and water and includes just 92 calories. It kicked off today with two films created by iconic New York-based agency Droga5.
Directed by Jeff Low – lauded for his tongue-in-cheek campaigns for Fanta, Heinz, BT Mobile and Mentos – both of the campaign films feature dialogue between a beer can, embodied in the voice of comedian Ali Wong, and the human characters. As a Coors Pure beer can, Wong offers peppy words of encouragement and congratulates the characters for trying their best to live healthier lifestyles. “We crafted the persona of this beer to be very energetic and congratulatory, yet realistic, to appeal to our target audience,” says Tara Lawall, group creative director at Droga5.
According to Lawall: “The inspiration came from our collective mindset right now, and how an organic beer targeted to people that lead a healthy lifestyle could feel like a welcome friend and not just another thing yelling at us, demanding we try harder. The truth is: every health and wellness success during the past year and a half is a big success that deserves to be celebrated.
“So we decided to meet people where they are with some observational humor that champions the everyday attempts of regular people trying to lead healthy lives. We point out trying as the ultimate triumph.”
In one ‘because you tried today’ spot, a mom who went for a run – well, ‘more of a walk-run’ mostly in an attempt to be relieved of mom duty for a while – enjoys a little reward at the end of the day with Coors Pure. In the other spot, ‘Standing desk Matt’, a young professional feels a beam of pride in completing a bike ride – and in using a standing desk in his WFH setup, because ‘sitting desks are bad now’.
“Audiences are used to wacky ‘big beer’ comedy spots,” says Droga5 associate creative director Bernardo González. “And Coors Pure is not wacky ‘big beer’ – it’s premium, healthy-ish beer. The main challenge was how to make a funny beer spot without sounding and looking like the rest of the funny beer brands.” The solution, he says, was surprisingly simple. “Let’s not have [the ads] scream, ‘Here comes comedy.’ Let’s instead create something cinematic and relatable, and let the audience decide if they find it funny or not.”
Coors found an ideal opportunity to launch the new product on April 7, which is both National Beer Day and World Health Day. The beverage titan sponsored The Beer Run – a run around New York City’s Central Park that included a playful twist: participants could scan QR codes pinned to the outfits of professional runners and access a coupon for a free beer. “It was a fun way to introduce Coors Pure where people were already making conscious choices to try and live healthier lifestyles,” says González.
The ‘because you tried today’ spots mark the campaign’s first TV ads. The campaign will be further activated across TV and digital channels in the coming months, with investment in podcast ads, targeted social initiatives, influencer content, streaming ads on Hulu and Peacock and broadcast ads during major primetime network shows including The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Adult Swim and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Ultimately, what matters most, says González, is that Coors is encouraging us all – no matter where we are in our health journey. “We hope people find refreshment in the fact that they can live a healthy lifestyle without giving up beer,” he says. “There’s a world where being healthy doesn’t necessarily mean waking up at 5am to run an ultra-marathon. There’s merit in small wellness choices – like going out for a run and having an organic beer afterwards. Or not going out for a run and having an organic beer. If you try to live a healthier lifestyle, that’s all that matters.”