On Tuesday evening over the course of about 30 minutes a flash-mob video was produced on the Las Vegas strip for both the Coors Light and Bacardi brands. Tables, couches, a bar, DJ booth, go-go boxes and a media wall were set up, enclosed in a 40’x40’ roped off area in front of Planet Hollywood. Minutes later 70 casted participants walked up a red carpet and entered the nightclub. DJ Mark Stylz started spinning and the go-go dancers switched on. Coors Light and Bacardi flowed as the videographer filmed. After 30 minutes the DJ cut the music mid song, everyone froze in place then dropped their drinks and left the club. The production was edited down to 2.5 minutes and is now up on YouTube with 1,016 views and counting.
Jeremy Taylor, field-marketing manager for MillerCoors, talks about the promotion.
PROMO: How did the idea come about?
TAYLOR: Our regional manager from Team Enterprises collaborated with his Bacardi counterpart and came up with the idea. One thing that we really know for sure is in the Las Vegas market 40% of sales come from on-premise versus other parts of the country where it’s 20%. It’s a big opportunity to build the brands in bars. With the very large club scene in Vegas the concept was let’s build a great club instantly on the strip and have everybody watch and experience the brands. It’s a very novel idea and very fitting for the Las Vegas market.
PROMO: Is the idea that viewers will think this was an impromptu flash mob?
TAYLOR: Yes, people will question whether this was staged and who got invited and how do you get invited. The whole picture turns into one giant impression for consumers standing on the street. We’ll initially launch the video on YouTube and from there we’ll let it run its course virally. YouTube is the primary focus for us because that’s where everything starts these days.
PROMO: What is the goal of the video?
TAYLOR: Primarily reach. We’ve done viral videos with certain MillerCoors brands in the past and had great success. The key to success from a viral marketing campaign is to not look like our brand staged the entire event. People will want to see it and not think the corporation put it out there. Perception is what we’re trying to achieve online, that Coors Light is part of this really cool event, but not the primary focus. This will look like a big party in Las Vegas and, oh by the way, I happen to have a Coors Light in my hand. The key is the perception that hip adults are partying in Las Vegas with the subtle branding of having a Coors Light in hand. That’s how we achieve success. We don’t want to put up a 30-foot Coors Light inflatable or run a commercial before or after the video, we want to make sure consumers find the event and think it’s cool, but not because Coors Light built it.
PROMO: Why did you agree to include Bacardi?
TAYLOR: Since we haven’t done this before and we don’t know how to measure our ROI, we decided to engage with a noncompetitive spirit beverage to share the funding. In addition to the financial implications, our distributor also sells Bacardi and Team Enterprises has Bacardi as a client so it’s something we felt made sense. We have high hopes for success but if we funded the whole thing there would be a lot more financial liability for us.
PROMO: What were the costs to produce the video?
TAYLOR: The investment for this event is going to be in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $12,000, which includes club furniture, talent, uniforms, giveaways, basically from start to finish.
PROMO: You mentioned determining ROI could be challenging, how will you take a look at this?
TAYLOR: We’ll try to measure it less by incremental sales in the near future and more by impressions that day. A second metric and most important, will be the number of hits we receive on YouTube or other locations where the video will live, the number of positive comments. With those types of things we’ll be able to see what our reach is like and that’s important.
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