Coors Light Wants to Send You to That Zoom Background You've Stared at for Months

You know the drill. Jim from accounting prattles on about expense reports with the Eiffel Tower peeking over his shoulder, and you nod mindlessly with the pyramids rising up behind you.

Of course, they’re just video-chat backgrounds. In reality, you’re both tethered to your grimy sofas, #WFH for six months, leaving the house only for curbside pizza pickups and longing stares at the horizon.

Coors Light and DDB want to change all that, with a sweepstakes that invites users to upload pictures of themselves with chat backgrounds they’d like to visit IRL. The brewer will randomly select five winners between now and Oct. 1, and send them on voyages to those very destinations.

Now, doesn’t that sound better than fantasizing about trekking far and wide, as “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'” rumbles from the sky and hungry raccoons dance to the tune?

Biscuit Filmworks director Noam Murro envisions such a trippy trip in this kooky contest commercial that broke during MTV’s Video Music Awards:

That song hails from the Broadway musical Oklahoma. If you upload an image of yourself standing against, say, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, and you win, Coors Light will send you and a guest to a place where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.

You might recall Murro’s video love letter to Los Angeles under lockdown from a few weeks ago. Well, if you upload an image of yourself backed by the Hollywood sign, and you win, Coors Light will award you and a guest starring roles on the Walk of Fame.

“After all this time at home, we are all probably a little guilty of daydreaming about the trips we’ll take in the future,” says Marcelo Pascoa, Coors vp of marketing. “This campaign gives people something to look forward to and will maybe help keep our daydreaming in check.”

The company will pay for travel up to $10,000, redeemable until June 2022, allowing winners to take their trips when they feel comfortable doing so.

“It’s no coincidence that so many people choose outdoor vistas for their video-chat backgrounds,” DDB Chicago executive creative director Colin Selikow tells Muse. “People love to be outside, especially with a cold beer. It’s a simple joy that has been so restricted over the last few months as we settle into life where we connect more digitally. It’s not a new insight, but the idea that it’s contributed to us forgetting that the outside is still out there, was a fresh way to look at it. We wanted to remind people that any time outside, even if it looks weirder than it usually does, is still amazing. And then provide a way for them to do it responsibly.”

Selikow credits veteran director Murro with producing an enjoyable film despite ongoing pandemic production restrictions. 

“Noam does this sort of thing so well—film that feels big and visual but still emotional and uplifting,” he says. “He took the simple story of a guy fantasizing about breaking free and made it relatable to so many people. He captured the positivity we all need right now but delivered it with humor. That’s hard to do.”

CREDITS

Client – Molson Coors Beverage Company
Brand – Coors Light

Client – Molson Coors Beverage Company
Chief Marketing Officer – Michelle St. Jacques
VP, Marketing – Marcelo Pascoa
Senior Director of Marketing – Aaron Ormond
Senior Marketing Manager – Chelsea Parker
Associate Marketing Manager – Ricky Gonzalez
Brand Public Relations Manager – Rachel Dickens
Senior Media Manager – Kelly Ellefson
Associate Media Manager – Stephanie Feran
Senior Manager, Marketing Insights – Matt Slater

Creative Agency – DDB
Chief Creative Officer, Global – Ari Weiss
Chief Creative Officer, North America – Britt Nolan
Executive Creative Director – Colin Selikow
Creative Director – Chris Walker
Creative Director – Alan Shen
Associate Creative Director – Sandra Jurado
Associate Creative Director – Dan LaVigne
Senior Copywriter – Amy Finn-Welch
Chief Production Officer – Diane Jackson
SVP, Executive Producer – Matt Blitz
Production Manager – Jillian English
VP, Strategy Director – Matt Babazadeh
SVP, Group Account Director – Kiska Howell
Account Director – Jonathan King
Account Executive – Colette Charak
Director of Project Management – Jen Polan

Production – Biscuit Filmworks
Director – Noam Murro
Post-Production – Framestore/Parliament
Colorist – Beau Leon
Editorial – Work
Editor – Stewart Reeves
Audio – Another Country
Audio Engineer – John Binder
Music/Sound Design – The Elements

Media Agency – Connect
PR Agency – ICF
Social Agency – Volt