Corona hijacks sports brands’ billboard ads to frame its alcohol-free beer as a post-workout refreshment /

Drinks break / By hijacking sports ads during the Olympics at a time when exercise is on the up, Corona Cero was able to frame its beer as an ideal way to relax after a workout and create a tangible consumption occasion for its alcohol-free beverage.

According to Statista Market Insights, the average yearly volume of non-alcoholic beer consumption per capita in Peru is marginally lower than South America overall (1.19 litres vs 1.21 litres), and significantly lower than the US market (3.24 litres). Given that non-alcoholic beers are not the norm in Peru, consumption occasions will be far less consolidated. In this way it's a smart play to build the association between alcohol-free beers and exercise and anchor Corona Cero to the occasion. 

The Corona brand has long associated itself with relaxation, but it has built this association through a connection to lofty idealistic imagery of relaxing on a beach with a beer as the sun goes down. This ad is no different in terms of the branding and distinctive assets we expect to see from Corona, but it does differ for the way it ties the consumption of Corona Cero to a more everyday occasion like exercise. If people are being more health conscious and committed to exercise during the Olympic games, it’s the perfect time to position Corona Cero, a more guilt-free treat, as the drink to plunge for.

Buy one, get one free / In the most simple sense, hijacking the ads of other brands meant Corona got a bigger bang for its buck. If more people are exercising, more people will be on the lookout for sports gear, particularly if they’re newcomers to a particular sport or regular exercise altogether. By making the adjacent sports ads inextricably part of Corona’s campaign, the brand stole this attention and doubled the ad space it received from its media buy in the process. By turning the whole billboard into its own, Corona also nullified the threat of neighbouring ads winning the battle for attention ahead of its own. 

Being able to use neighbouring ads to paint the picture for a new consumption occasion also ensured Corona didn’t have to compromise on its own branding and distinctive assets. There’s only a finite amount of space on a billboard ad, and it would be tricky to tell this story without either sacrificing the brand's distinctive imagery, or simply splashing out on a bigger ad. Corona got other brands to do the hard work, ensuring it kept its message familiar at the same time as introducing a new frame for Cero consumption.

Distinctively indistinctive / Because the creative is so distinctively Corona, at first glance it isn’t all that clear that it’s an ad for Corona Cero specifically, but that is less of a problem than it sounds. It works both as intended to position Corona Cero as a healthier treat, and as a way to frame how a standard Corona can be earned and made to feel more guilt-free. In doing so it plays on the licensing behavioural bias, the idea that we justify indulgent decisions based on prior good behaviour. It’s only natural to feel more relaxed when there is no guilt in doing so. So whether people want to end their exercise with an alcohol-free beer or something a little stronger, the ad works just as well for the Corona brand as a whole.