Molson Coors and DraftKings invite fans to bet on top-secret Super Bowl ad
The beer giant is teaming up with DraftKings for its return to the Big Game after a hiatus of more than 30 years.
For the first time, a brand is offering its audience the opportunity to win money by betting on the outcome of one of its ads.
Molson Coors unveiled ‘The high stakes beer ad,’ a Super Bowl marketing campaign developed in partnership with the sports betting platform DraftKings. The ad itself hasn’t been released – and that’s the whole point: in an effort to drive engagement, the beer brands will let fans bet on small details from the ad, such as whether Coors Light or Miller Lite will be the first to be mentioned, the bartender’s clothing and the breed of the dog that will apparently be featured in the spot.
The brands are offering a cumulative prize pool of $500,000, “the largest for any free-to-play non-sport contest offered in DraftKings’ history,” according to a press release published today.
A new teaser video for the ad – dubbed with a soundtrack and sound effects that could’ve been taken directly from a Marvel film – showed that fans betting on these details will be presented with multiple-choice questions. The teaser also frames the campaign as a duel between Coors Light and Miller Lite, in an effort perhaps to lean into the competitive nature of sports betting – and, of course, that of the Super Bowl itself.
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The inter-beer duel theme is strongly hinted at, for example, in a question featured in the teaser video which simply reads: “Who wins the big game commercial in the end?” The options: Coors Light, Miller Lite and two others which have been blurred out – one of which is obviously Coors Banquet. Expect to see a Molson Coors ad on gameday, which features four beer products battling it out, probably in some dramatic fashion.
“Molson Coors and DraftKings went to great lengths to keep the commercial’s outcome a secret, with multiple different endings filmed during the ad shoot,” Molson Coors wrote in this morning’s press release. “Molson Coors’ CEO doesn’t even know how the ad will end.”
Since 1988, Molson Coors and its family of brands have been unable to advertise during the Super Bowl due to AB InBev’s exclusivity agreement with the NFL (think of the Budweiser Clydesdales). That agreement ended at the close of 2022, opening the door for other beer brands to step in. Molson Coors is now doing so with its new, carefully veiled ad, which it described in this morning’s press release as “a first-of-its-kind Big Game commercial with real money on the line.”
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“After being shut out of the Big Game for more than 30 years, we wanted to do something that had never been done before,” says Michelle St. Jacques, chief marketing officer at Molson Coors. “By giving people the chance to predict every detail of the ad before it even runs, we’re bringing our fans along for the ride and getting them just as excited about our return to the big stage as we are.”
Bets will be open to fans aged 21 and over across the US (Virginia excluded) via the DraftKings app and website (account required) until 3:30 pm on gameday (February 12). Winners are slated to be announced the following morning.
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DraftKings isn’t the only sports betting platform that’s leaning into this year’s Super Bowl. Earlier this month, FanDuel released an ad featuring former NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski. Parodying an 80s movie training montage, the ad followed Gronk’s journey as he trains for his upcoming live field goal attempt during Super Bowl LVII. If the kick is successful, FanDuel will reward those who used its platform to bet on the outcome of the Big Game with a portion of a $10m pot.
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