With overall beer sales in decline for the first time in nearly two decades, Corona Light is bucking the trend by increasing its brand awareness among active young people, Elizabeth Olsen reports.
Sales to retailers rose 4.8% last year after a 3.6% increase in 2008.
"Corona Light is the social brother to Corona Extra," says José Mollá, co-founder and executive
creative officer of La Comunidad, the Miami agency that created a 30-second spot for the brand featuring 40 men and women exuberantly partying in Tayrona Nature Park in Colombia. "Its image is more
active; it's escaping with your world, not from your world." And when they return, they talk about what they did, not where they've gone.
"Unlike previous recessions when beer was
recession-proof, the higher unemployment rate hit blue-collar workers hard this time," says Benjamin Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer's Insights. Budget brands such as Keystone Light from
Coors have also fared well, as have more expensive craft brews, which grew by more than 7% last year thanks to people who say they want different tastes and flavors, according to the Beer Institute.
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