• by Erik Oster , January 22, 2024

The Coors Light train was one of the brand’s “most beloved icons” in the history of its advertising, according to Marcelo Pascoa, vice president of marketing for the Coors brand family, but it has long been absent from its marketing.

The lager-carrying locomotive first left the marketing station in 2005, but hasn’t made an appearance in about a dozen years. Coming off a 2023 which saw Coors Light become the fastest volume-share gainer in the total beer category, according to Circana data, the brand was handed the ball by parent company Molson Coors for what it claims is its first-ever dedicated Super Bowl ad.

(A brand representative said that while it has previously run an ad in the game, it was from a preexisting campaign rather than one created specifically for the event.)

“People keep asking for the train to come back” -- including three-quarters of fans in a large brand survey -- Pascoa told Marketing Daily.

For that to happen, the brand “needed to have a vision.” Working with agency partner Droga5, it arrived at a new name alongside an expanded purpose: the Coors Light Chill Train.

Pascoa said the refreshed railway locomotive was designed around the idea of delivering “not just the physical, but the emotional side of refreshment as well.”

For the first time, the train is now boarding with a chance for fans in the U.S. and Canada to to be among the limited number of “passengers” virtually inserted into the train car during a 30-second ad. While the train will whizz by in a blur during the Super Bowl broadcast spot, Coors Light will also be featuring a slo-mo version of the ad online in which each passenger will be visible. What’s more, each participant will receive a contract and be entitled to $500 in talent fees, in addition to receiving limited-edition commemorative swag.

The brand will introduce the concept to viewers when it airs a teaser spot during the NFC Championship game on Sunday, 1/28, inviting them to submit their entries, with a limited number of new opportunities to book a seat added daily at 1 p.m. EST through 2/2.

“Technology has evolved a lot in 12 years. We wanted to do something for this campaign that just wasn’t possible before,” Pascoa said  “This is about bragging rights, about people being able to say ‘I was on the Coors Light train, something no customers have been able to say before,” he added. And using the “magic of CGI” to insert fans in the ad also allows the brand to connect with existing fans of the train as well as introduce it to new audiences, he said.

Pascoa explained that the brand’s marketing has long focused on “the physical aspect of cold,” positioning it as as differentiated by virtue of it being cold-filtered, cold-lagered, and cold-packaged. Beginning with a campaign in 2019, he explained, the brand added an emotional layer to its messaging .

“We believe there is a power in choosing to find that moment of chill,” he added, “in a world where everything is happening so fast.”