Corona retail promotion is boxers on bottles

The Sports Business Journal reports that Corona is affixing faces of familiar fighters on lines of bottles starting in mid-August.  The boxers are Miguel Cotto, Bernard Hopkins, Peter Quillin, Erik Morales, Abner Mares and Danny Garcia.

The fighters will be included in 18-packs in 32 states distributed primarily to Hispanic accounts. The promotion starting in August will run through October.  Three commemorative bottles will be included in the 18 packs.

According to the SBJ (subscription required), this will be the first time that Corona will build a retail promotion around boxing.  In a way, Corona’s promotion concedes the fact that Tecate has been successful with its in-store retail promotions (i.e., $25 rebate coupon for certain Pacquiao fights if fans bought Tecate can products).

Corona distributor Crown Imports signed on as a Golden Boy Promotions sponsor and its the company’s first major in-store promotion.  Golden Boy sees the opportunity to activate in 50 states which gives it a bigger reach than Tecate’s previous in-store promotions which were narrowly targeted.

While the promotion seeks to target the Hispanic market with a direct emphasis on Mexican Independence Day in September, the bottles feature two Mexicans (Morales, Mares), two Puerto Ricans (Cotto, Carcia) and two African Americans (BHop, Quillin).

Payout Perspective:

The promotion not only features the fighters but taps into the cultural pride.  Notably, it hopes to capitalize on a fight featuring Miguel Cotto in mid-September.  What about that other fight happening on September 14th between Canelo Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather?  While it would have made the most sense, there were obstacles from having the two featured on bottles.  First, at 22 years of age, Canelo Alvarez is too young to appear in beer ads per U.S. beer industry rules.  Mayweather declined to appear on the bottles.

While a survey reveals Corona is the preferred imported beer among Hispanics in the U.S., we will see if this promotion aids Golden Boy’s upcoming fights.  Moreover, will the promotion see a return on the costs expended for it.