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MillerCoors initiates continuous conversation via mobile to drive purchase decisions

MillerCoors is inserting itself into millennials' beer decision-making process via a series of digital and mobile content partnerships spanning in-application advertising, music streaming and original content.

Some of the partnerships are more mobile-centric then others, but all of them realize the need to reach consumers digitally to meet the demands of young, tech-savvy consumers. The partnerships cover several different brands and a variety of mobile apps, including Spotify, UrbanDaddy's Next Move and Instagram.

?The purchase decision is a never-ending cycle in beer, and our consumer always has his phone with him,? said Jackie Woodward, vice president of marketing connections at MillerCoors, Chicago. ?He may be in the c-store during the day to buy a 12-pack for his house, then at the bar with his buddies that night.

?Every time he opens a cooler door or calls out to a bartender, he?s making a new decision. That means we must have a continuous conversation with our beer drinker, and mobile plays an increasingly important role in enabling us to achieve this objective.

?Mobile helps us bridge the digital and experiential worlds.?

Mobile innovation
While all of the digital partnerships are likely to carry across to mobile, a few of the partnerships are more mobile-centric.

For instance, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company is partnering with The Weather Company to promote its Summer Shandy. The brand will leverage the WeatherFX data platform to reach consumers in real-time.

Leinenkugel will communicate with consumers in prime weather time for its beer. Using sales data and local weather conditions, the brand can send messaging when they are most likely to be interested in the Summer Shandy beer.

The ads will appear across mobile and desktop to let consumers know in real-time that they should go out and get Summer Shandy. The content of the ads will highlight local weather and provide customized, locally relevant activities and suggestions based on the weather.

Leinenkugel is also leveraging Instagram in a partnership with Major League Baseball Advanced Media. Consumers will be asked to post a photo on Instagram using the hashtag #SummerShandyAllStars and tag it with @MLB. Winners will receive weekly prizes and one grand prize ? tickets to the all-star game.

Blue Moon Brewing Company is partnering with Spotify to produce the "Follow the Moon" tour, which will feature events in five markets timed to coincide with full moons throughout the spring and summer. Content from the events will be shared through a co-branded microsite, where consumers will be able to access interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and custom playlists.

Consumers will be able to experience the tour live via the Spotify mobile app.

Digital brands
Some of the other partnerships are not as inherently mobile, but will no doubt carry weight across digital.

Coors Light and Miller Fortune have partnered with Complex Media, a collection of sites targeted at young men in their twenties.

Through Complex Media, Coors Light unTAPPED will introduce these young men to musical artists, whether it be a rapper giving a tour of the city where he got started or a West Coast producer talking about how his roots impacted his career.

Miller Fortune will also develop exclusive content with Complex Media, creating a digital video series sharing the bold moves key influencers in the music, entertainment, fashion and art industries made.

Redd's Apple Ale is partnering with comedy platform Funny or Die to create the Oddball Comedy Festival Tour. This will start with an online contest giving up-and-coming comedians the chance to compete for an appearance at one of the 15 Road to Oddball comedy showcases and a chance to join the Oddball Comedy Festival Tour for 20 major-market amphitheater shows.

Redd?s is also working with Comedy Central to create an original, weekly Web series of improv and inspired by real fan tweets.

Coors Light will also work with Comedy Central to create a series of digital shorts featuring stand-up comedian Michael Kosta and his relationship with the Coors Light Refresherator, a customized Coors Light vending machine.

?Ultimately, our marketing always has been and always will be about that conversation between friends,? Ms. Woodward said. ?That?s why people get together at a bar. It?s why they have friends over to watch the game.

?It?s what beer is all about and increasingly, that conversation now is happening digitally,? she said. ?These new partnerships further strengthen the ability of our brands to be part of the conversations that matter most to beer drinkers, in the ways that are most relevant to them.?

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York