When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, revelers in six U.S. cities can rest easy knowing they have a free ride home, courtesy of Coors Light and Miller Lite.
For 34 years, the two beer brands have been working with public transit systems to get people home safely, helping reinforce alcohol responsibility as a key pillar of the company’s environmental, sustainability and governance goals.
“We want to make sure our consumers are going out, having a good time and celebrating with our brands, but we also want to make sure they get home safe,” says Michael Nordman, senior manager of community affairs at Molson Coors Beverage Company.
On New Year’s Eve, Coors Light will foot the bill in Denver, Dallas and Phoenix, while Miller Lite will usher folks home in Chicago, Milwaukee and the Twin Cities.
And 2022 has been the program’s biggest year to date, Nordman says.
Typically, the Free Rides program operates around major events, like New Year’s Eve or St. Patrick’s Day, when Molson Coors sponsored free rides in Milwaukee and Minneapolis. In April, around the Kentucky Derby, Blue Moon Brewing Co. offered free rides in Louisville, Ky.
The beer brands have also been active this pro football season, with free rides in Cincinnati and Minneapolis, while Vizzy Hard Seltzer got into the game sponsoring free rides in Chicago. And in October, Miller Lite helped baseball fans in Philadelphia get home safely while their team took on Houston in pro baseball’s championship series.
Across the country, Molson Coors encourages responsible consumption of its brands. Whether it’s with in-stadium promotions urging fans to have a designated driver, working with Lyft to offer ride-share passes or partnering with the National Association of Convenience Stores to prevent underage drinking, alcohol responsibility is a major initiative for the beverage company.
And the Free Rides program is its most visible alcohol responsibility initiative. In all, Molson Coors spent more than $1 million on its Free Rides program in 2022.
It’s a small price to pay for an important message, Nordman says.
“Of all the alcohol responsibility programs we have, this is the one that enables us to talk to consumers the most,” he says. “’Celebrate responsibly’ is not just a slogan. It’s what we believe in as a company.”