
While seltzer’s success is a challenge to the beer category, Constellation Brands hopes its Corona hard seltzer launch will make the trendy beverage a friend rather than a foe. The hard seltzer category is currently worth $550m but could grow to reach $2.5bn by 2021: attracting consumers from beer and other alcoholic beverage categories with a cleaner, healthier, low calorie image.

Below, one of the English-language spots from C-K. The newest twist is that the theme will also be used in Hispanic advertising by The Community. This year the Mexican import will continue its "Corona gets its lime" theme that it started in 2017. While other big beer brands continually tinker with their campaigns, Extra has stuck with its "Find Your Beach" ads for years. Below, a look at how it will spend some of that money on new ads.

But the marketer's research revealed that the Corona portfolio had room to grow with varieties meant to broaden its appeal, he adds.Ĭonstellation-whose beer brands also include Pacifico-plans to boost its total media spending by 8 percent this year compared with 2018. "We have built the Corona franchise through the lens of Corona Extra largely, and a little bit of Corona Light, and we have found great success in that regard," he says. And the overall Corona family-including the new varieties-finished 2018 up 8 percent in sales, which is actually better than 2017's uptick of 4 percent, Alvarado says. For one, the company owns fast-growing Modelo.

And the brew was surpassed in size by Modelo Especial as the nation's largest imported beer.īut Constellation Brands execs are not worried. But Extra cooled off last year with sales falling slightly. The expansion, however, comes with a risk that the new products will steal drinkers from the flagship Corona Extra brand, which for years has been among the hottest-selling brews in the U.S. Refresca, meantime, is aimed at people who don't like beer, says John Alvarado, senior VP-brand marketing for Constellation Brands' beer division.

Premier, whose ads are also handled by Cavalry, targets health-conscious drinkers, following in the footsteps of Anheuser-Busch InBev's hot selling low-cal Michelob Ultra brand. Refresca's launch comes after the 2018 national debut of Corona Premier, a lower-calorie version of Extra. The investment is part of an emerging strategy by Corona owner Constellation Brands to wring more growth from its flagship beer brand, Corona Extra, with new varieties. The campaign, by WPP's Cavalry, plugs the fruity drink as "the taste of the tropics." Flavors include passionfruit lime, guava lime and coconut lime. The push will be backed with national ads. After testing the so-called "premium spiked refresher" in a handful of cities, Refresca will go national staring in May. Corona-which tiptoed into the flavored malt beverage market last year with Corona Refresca-is about to dive in head-first.
