Coors a NASCAR staple in past, present and future

There was a time in NASCAR, before the explosion of the global marketplace, where automotive companies and breweries were the big prizes among team owners seeking sponsorship.

Coors Brewing Company, once a regional beer with a cult following around the nation, chose NASCAR way back in 1983 as a way to open new distribution channels. If you'll notice, Coors is still in the thick of the NASCAR game, and there are no plans to stop now.

"Our customers are, in large quantities, fans of NASCAR, and it is important for us to be part of their life and lifestyle, and if NASCAR is part of their lives, we want to be there as well," said Bryce McTavish, VP of marketing, channels and sponsorships for Coors. "It also provides us with the opportunity -- and I think we are demonstrating that more so this summer than we have in the past -- to connect it literally with some of the things we are doing with our brand.

"We've been changing the paint scheme on David [Stremme's] car to highlight some of the key packages and innovations that we are going to market with that the consumers can then reach out and touch themselves."

And everyone knows that NASCAR fans reach out and touch a lot of adult beverages on a weekly basis.

It is interesting to see technological advances from a non-technology endemic sponsor like Coors, which is using NASCAR's platform to activate programs like the new Cold Activated Bottle among race fans.

"The Cold Activated Bottle [CAB] is a label that has thermochromatic ink on it and the mountains turn blue when the beer is cold," McTavish explained. "That got our system excited about the program and the new packaging as well."

Since Coors' hallmark has always been cool refreshment, the CAB makes sense and it's a neat program to activate with.

"We can reach out to our system and activate the property at retail around the packaging, so then everyone is in line, from Chip Ganassi Racing and David Stremme on the racing team all the way down through our system," McTavish said.

"We are pretty disciplined about trying to tie the technology back to the actual benefit of the product, which in Coors Light's case is cold refreshment. For example, we have the wide-mouth can that's coming out, which has a wider opening in the aluminum can and allows the beer to pour more smoothly and be more refreshing. We are going to do a paint scheme around that later this year."

Coors is in the same arena with its major competitors, and while that's a plus, McTavish said it would be the case even if the other brewing companies weren't involved.

"It's about being where the drinkers are," he explained. "If our competitors chose not to be there, I still believe we would be there, just because that's where our drinkers are. NASCAR is one of the few sports where you can bring our products in many cases to the race, and that's how they enjoy it responsibly while enjoying their favorite sport. It's exciting all the way around."

Coors' NASCAR program is among its biggest and most important for driving sales of the brewer's brands.

"NASCAR is a big part of our activation and a big part of how we go to retail for the 36 or 37 weeks of the season," McTavish said. "It's a big part of our plan throughout our system. The distributors and the sales guys want NASCAR, especially in those markets where the race comes to town."

The "system" McTavish is talking about involves the key players in the integrated marketing structure Coors employs.

"We are a three-tier system," McTavish said. "We have distributor partners who own their own businesses who deliver the beer to their customers that are the retailers. We have the brewer, an internal sales force, the distributor network has an external sales force, which sells to retailers, who then sell products to the end users.

"And everybody within that value chain has a vote to a great degree in what gets displayed and what gets supported. It's our job, and we use properties like NASCAR to get that attention and get that favor with the system so that it is Coors Light that they are in fact selling and distributing."

The better Stremme and his Coors Light Dodge finish, the better the brand activates at retail, McTavish said.

"I can make a loose attachment to how my system gets excited as the car performs better," he said. "As David wins races and performs better, the system gets more excited and they activate the program at retail. For us, that's the measure of success. It's the amount of displays, the amount of display activity and the number of our customers in terms of retailers that we can get rallied around our team."

Stremme, in his second season at the wheel of the Coors Light car, is making big strides so far in 2007, resting 22nd in the points -- 14 spots ahead of where he was this time last year.

Ganassi, too, is a key component of the marketing effort and sponsorship.

"David is a very competitive guy, and in his second year, I think the numbers speak for themselves," McTavish stated. "I think he's on track to be one of the great drivers. Chip wants to win. The more that the team does well the more it becomes a greater asset to us. We're there to support them and to use them to sell our beers in the marketplace. Wins are important and Chip is a competitive guy who wants to win."

They haven't as yet, but a look at the statistics shows it could happen at any time. That's bound to get the system in a tizzy and sell more beer.

That's why Coors is in the sport, and that's why it has been part of the sport since the early years of the Reagan administration.