As quantifiable metrics have taken the driver's seat of marketing strategies, advertainment (the blend of entertainment with advertising), seems to have fallen out of fashion. When cable TV and radio held the lion’s share of air space, there was considerably more value in deepening the quality of advertising content. Now, with seemingly infinite arenas to advertise and compete for attention, strategies have tipped towards volume over quality. While you may not miss getting jingles stuck in your head every time you turn on the radio, consider how many memories you have of brand advertising from the 2010’s and before–and how few you can recall in the past few years.
Original content isn’t required for compelling advertising or a favorable brand image, but it certainly helps. Today’s advertising is littered with references, nostalgia, and repurposed ideas, which make for fun viral moments, but don’t have much longevity. Even high budget spots that rely on A-list celebrities and stunt work don’t have nearly the lasting power of a good bit or iconic wordplay. What distinguishes advertainment from other high quality advertising is the joy and interest derived from the content by viewers, regardless of whether they’re compelled to buy. In this way, advertainment can be an important tool in the arsenal of customer experience. At every stage of the funnel, a unique and memorable brand experience generates goodwill, pushing the needle over time.
Of course, brands can’t simply revert their advertising tactics to what worked in the 90s. Blending omnichannel digital experiences with original content, while remaining aware of trends and viral moments, is how brands capture and keep your attention in 2025. Molson Coors, the beermaker behind Coors Light, Miller High Life, and more, has demonstrated what high-performing convergence between customer experiences and advertainment looks like in the ever-crowded beer market.
Making an iconic moment last
Late in the 2023 MLB season when star player Shotei Ohtani was still on the Angels, the star hitter knocked out an LED tile in the Coors billboard at Citi Field. The Coors marketing team, seizing the unexpected opportunity, launched clever but simple ads referencing the moment online and at the next Angels home game. Delighting fans of beer, the Angels, and callbacks, the campaign was taken one step further with custom cans that mimic the billboard tile outage. This quick thinking at scale was made possible by a reactive marketing budget: a non-negotiable in the age of virality.
Turning heads and creating buzz
Creating an advertisement that is interesting enough to actually crop up in conversations between people is a tall order. Marketing departments dedicate an enormous amount of resources pursuing this goal and it sometimes feels like the brands that achieve it do so by accident. In the weeks leading up to the 2025 Super Bowl, Coors ran a billboard online and in Times Square with the slogan “Ice Cold Refreshment.” One issue though: “refreshment” had a typo. As photos and screenshots of the typo went viral, the event seemed more and more like a stunt. It’s not impossible, but it’s fairly unlikely a multi-billion dollar brand would clear a 3-word advertisement without thorough proofing. When “authenticity” was the buzzword of the moment a few years ago, a brand would be scolded on social media for deceiving customers. Today, whether you believe it was an honest mistake or a clever campaign, at least it got your attention.
An omnichannel twist on “surprise and delight”
Following the success of the 2023 damaged billboard campaign, Coors teamed up with two MLB stadiums for the 2025 home opener to provide a special experience for those with obstructed view seats. Using Coor’s AI-powered website, fans could upload a photo of their stadium viewpoint, and if it was confirmed to be obstructed by a column, foul pole, or other stadium infrastructure, Coors offered the consolation prize of one free Coors Light. While the analog implementation of such an idea would likely require fans validating their obstructed view tickets at one kiosk and picking up their beer at another, the creativity behind this idea is made seamless by leveraging the technology most fans keep in their back pocket. Further, by making this offer available only to those in the cheap seats, Coors is able to target those most likely to be or become customers of Coors Light.
Creating memorable moments has never been more challenging, but whether creative experiences like these stick in the minds of customers ever-shortening attention spans remains to be seen. Advertainment alone may no longer demonstrate the ROI marketing teams are looking for, but by combining unique and interesting content with interactivity, exclusivity, and of course, free stuff, Coors sets themselves up well to convert passersby to customers and fans.
Photo by Bekka Mongeau on Pexels.