Behind the Brew is a column where Molson Coors employees explain in their own words what’s new in their department and how it’s driving the company forward. Nels Larsen is VP of National Accounts, focusing on the on-premise channel.
It’s often said that brands are built in the on-premise. That’s true. But I think it's even bigger than that. It brings people together.
When something important happens in your life, whether that’s celebrating a birthday, a new job or cheering on your favorite team, you head to a bar or restaurant – and our brands are a meaningful part of that experience.
That’s why it’s vital to keep a pulse on the kinds of occasions consumers are looking for – and it’s why we’ve evolved to offer a variety of different beverages within our portfolio, whether that’s a beloved Blue Moon draft or Fever Tree cocktail. And all that influences how we approach the on-premise.
Take Fever Tree, one of the newest offerings in our U.S. portfolio. It not only offers consumers the most premium option to choose from, but also greatly broadens our opportunities on menus. This high-quality brand of mixers perfectly pairs with basically every spirit. With Fever Tree alone, we’ve almost doubled our chain partnerships, allowing us to meet more people in more places.
This helps our above premium beer brands, too. With a brand like Fever Tree, we’re opening significant new possibilities across the portfolio, like resorts, hotels and upscale dining. In these formats, where beer share is typically lower, we can create solutions for Fever Tree, and then broaden into the right beer solutions, like Peroni and Blue Moon.
That’s why Molson Coors is growing its on-premise team. In fact, there are roughly 30% more team members touching the on-premise today than at this time last year. It’s because as we expand as a total beverage company, it becomes even more critical to create meaningful experiences alongside our customers in the on-premise.
Connecting with Gen Z beyond the tap
While the on-premise is important for a wide variety of 21+ drinkers, we always have our eyes on 21+ Gen Z consumers – and we know they’re looking for a total experience. They aren’t going to leave their houses for something they’ve seen 1,000 times before. They want to connect with brands in meaningful ways. And that inspires us to get creative.
Beer cocktails are a perfect example. This summer, we worked with an on-premise chain on a specialty Blue Moon cocktail, made with Blue Moon, vodka, mango puree and lemonade over ice with a signature orange wheel garnish. It’s been a huge hit with consumers, delivering enhanced profitability for our retail partner and ultimately greater visibility and opportunity for the Blue Moon brand.
Along with attracting new legal drinking-age consumers, the cocktail expands the Blue Moon occasion for longtime fans by bringing it to life in a new, innovative and Instragramable way. And we’re seeing this work across other brands too, like the Miller High Life Spaghett, which has gained national attention.
What does this all mean? We can partner with accounts to bring people in, provide them with something premium and unique from our portfolio and make a lasting impact that gets them to return and maybe grab another beer or beverage when they do.
We’re also thinking outside the box to meet 21+ Gen Z where they are in authentic ways, and using technology as a way in. Line Leap is an app that allows users to pay to skip long lines and order drinks ahead of time. I’ve seen people in Nashville skip lines of hundreds of people to get a prime spot at an event. We recently partnered with them where first time users of the app can take advantage of special promotions and offers with brands like Coors Banquet or Happy Thursday.
But that’s just the start. On-premise provides the best runway of opportunity for creative solutions, where we can connect with today’s consumers where they are.
Keeping our core and above premium strong with draft
While innovation brings opportunity, there’s nothing quite like draft beer. When the glass and lines are clean, and the beer is served at a perfect temperature, it's the best beer experience that you can have, and often one you can’t get at home. That makes it a fantastic driver for the on-premise – and a huge opportunity for our tried-and-true brands.
And I believe that’s why our core and above premium brands are strong on-premise. In fact, according to Nielsen IQ, Miller Lite and Coors Lite are the #2 and #3 draft brands, respectively, in the channel. We’re in our third straight year of on-premise total portfolio share growth, with our total portfolio up .39 dollar share YTD and .6 in the latest 12 weeks for the week ending 7/12, according to NIQ.
Also according to NIQ, Miller Lite, Coors Light, Coors Banquet, Miller High Life and Peroni are all growing total category share YTD, while Blue Moon is back to flat category share YTD and growing share of Above Premium for the latest 12 weeks ending 7/12. Coors Banquet and Peroni are leading the way, up in scan dollars 20.3% and 6.8% respectively YTD, according to NIQ.
To continue meeting today’s consumer, our team pairs these strong brands with industry-leading insights, eye-catching localized assets and strategic sports alliances to help on-premise accounts attract even more people.
On-premise is an ever-evolving channel, and I love it when we’re able to bring really strong solutions. Because when Molson Coors’ beverages show up in the right way with the correct strategy, we not only help on-premise accounts, but also our distributor partners, our business and the broader industry. Everyone wins.