Corona Hides Codes in Pack to Run Up Summer Sales
Summertime equals beer and Corona Extra wants there to be plenty to go around. And, so, it has begun what it is calling its largest retail promotion to date for its Corona Extra and Corona Light brands.
It’s a treasure hunt of sorts with unique codes placed on bottles and cans that are hidden in packages. P-O-P and the packaging itself alert consumers to the hunt. Once they discover a code, they can take it online to enter the "Corona Beach Getaway" sweepstakes and a chance for those of legal drinking age to win one of 100 trips to Mexico. The program is a grand take on a much more subdued, yet successful, sweepstakes that ran last year.
A bundle of 1,700 prizes is a way to let consumers know that there are more than just trips to Mexico, including Corona-branded patio umbrellas, rolling coolers and beach cabana tents.
In downtown Chicago, a 16-foot tall beer bottle awaits sweeps entrants—and the pretty brand reps sitting inside don’t hurt—throughout the summer. A kick-off event in New York City’s Times Square, turned a section of the promenade into a sandy beach with help from promotion agency Gigunda Group. People were invited to play volleyball and beanbag toss games and then left branded giveaways. Local retailers were provided with promotional materials to create their own beach experiences and tie into the Time’s Square event and beyond.
In bars and restaurants, a separate, but related sweepstakes, “Corona Getaway Moment,” is promoted by P-O-P where people can submit a photo of their favorite beach moment to win a beach vacation for two. Ten finalists will have their photo submissions posted on Corona's Facebook page, which has about for 550,000 fans.
In California, where the sweepstakes are prohibited, a third rendition is underway. There, residents learn through both on- and off-premise P-O-P that they can submit an essay to apply for a three-month position as Corona’s Relaxation Expert, who’s duties it will be to share tips on the best ways to relax with Corona.
All totaled, more than 11,000 bottles and 1,000 cans of Corona Extra and Corona Light will include the beach packaging. That’s more than five times the number for last year’s Corona “Win the Beach” promotion.
“It’s a huge jump to give more people the chance to register codes and win the grand-prize trip,” said Kristopher Boron, vice president of account management and strategy said Kristopher Boron, vice president of account management and strategy at Upshot, which ranked No. 43 on the 2010 Promo 100, is handling the sweepstakes.
On Facebook, a digital version of the sweepstakes plays out with consumers registering to play and then searching to locate bottles of the premium import hidden on the pages.
Fifteen-second TV spots created by Cramer-Kasselt are running on most major networks, including CNN, ESPN, Spike TV and Comedy Central along with radio ads. Pereira Odell developed media buys. The sweepstakes just began and runs through July, with redemption of the codes open through mid-September.
Last year, the Corona saw “significant levels of participation,” and Crown Imports, the parent company of Corona considered it successful and willing to spend more on the program this year to expand it. About 2,000 bottles with codes were hidden in packages offering 100 grand-prize trips to Cancun, Mexico and hundreds of secondary branded prizes.
“There’s quite a bit of familiarly from a consumer perspective from last year, the first time in the history of the brand that it had done any significant promotional activity,” Boron said.
