Coors and DDB Want to Place a Super Bowl Ad in Your Dreams

Molson Coors can’t run national ads on the Super Bowl because rival AB InBev holds category exclusivity for alcohol. This year, however, the brewer dreamed up a novel way to overcome that disadvantage and generate some Big Game buzz.

Coors Light and Coors Seltzer, working with DDB and Ghost Robot—and in consultation with noted psychologist and researcher Dr. Deidre Barrett—created a campaign designed to put a beer commercial in your dreams.

You watch a specially formulated 90-second video three times before bed, then listen to an eight-hour “stimulus soundscape” developed by composer/producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith as you slumber. Doing these things, we’re told, will summon sweet night visions of Coors.

The film and soundtrack drop here on Feb. 3, four nights before the Chiefs and Buccaneers face off at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It’s all based on the science of Targeted Dream Incubation, so it’s 100 percent guaranteed to work. Maybe.

At any rate, it’s something different, as we learn in this entertaining project video, shot during a Coors “dream study” by Smuggler director Henry-Alex Rubin:

Don’t let the ethical implications keep you up at night. No one’s secretly beaming commercials into your dreams. Yet.

“Anyone can choose to watch or not watch the stimulus video and listen to the soundscape,” says Marcelo Pascoa, vp of marketing at Molson Coors. “Some might be curious about what they could potentially experience, while others will be happy to just read about others’ dreams. While this is definitely new territory for brands to explore, we’ve made a point to craft the experience in a way that gives people something great—a refreshing, rejuvenating dream.”

Or a freaky beer-fueled nightmare! Both are good.

“We saw the idea initially from DDB, and our first thought was, ‘This is amazing and totally unexpected, but will it really work?’ ” Pascoa recalls. “Once we began working with Dr. Barrett, she guided us to develop a process that is truly effective at compelling people’s dreams.”

You can catch snippets of the film in the mini-doc above. Looks like fanciful animations of human and animal figures, plus stylized nature scenes with idyllic waterfalls, snow-kissed mountains and verdant valleys. It reminds us of Yes album covers circa 1974, with the Coors logo replacing the band’s name.

As for the soundscape, also previewed in the clip, we’re in for ambient stylings and mellow electronica. (Punctuated by beer-can pop-tab sound effects? It lasts 480 minutes, so who knows what they snuck in?)

Last month, Xbox and 215 McCann explored guided dreaming in a somewhat similar fashion, though Coors might be the first brand to attempt triggering actual commercials in sleepers’ heads.

Coors will air :15 and :06 edits from the project video across national TV, digital platforms and social media in the run-up to Super Bowl LV.

CREDITS

Coors Light + Coors Seltzer – “Big Game Commercial Of Your Dreams”

Client – Molson Coors Beverage Company
Brands – Coors Light + Coors Seltzer

Client – Molson Coors Beverage Company
Chief Marketing Officer: Michelle St. Jacques
VP of Marketing, Coors Family of Brands: Marcelo Pascoa
Director of Marketing, Coors Light: Chris Steele
Director of Marketing, Coors Seltzer: Elizabeth Hitch
Senior Marketing Manager, Coors Light: Liz Cramton
Associate Marketing Manager, Coors Light: Mary Beugelsdijk
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
Chief Creative Officer, Australia: Ben Welsh 
Executive Creative Director: Colin Selikow
Creative Director: Brian Culp
Creative Director: Katie Bero
Creative Director: Ruth Belllotti
Associate Creative Director: Dan LaVigne
Senior Art Director: Elaine Li
Senior Copywriter: Jared Wicker
Senior Art Director: Shelby Bass
Senior Copywriter: Nick Garfield
Design Lead: Dru Jennett
Chief Production Officer: Diane Jackson
Executive Producer: Will St. Clair
Executive Art Producer: Suzanne Koller
Senior Producer: Annie Larimer
Senior Producer: Chris Shen
Production Manager: Jillian English
Talent Manager: Chris Quinn
Music Director: Alec Stern
VP, Strategy Director: Matt Babazadeh
Digital Director: Mike Norgard
Digital Strategist: Marianna Eboli
SVP, Group Account Director: Kiska Howell
Account Director: Jonathan King
Account Director: Katelyn Ledford
Account Supervisor: Colette Charak
Director of Project Management: Jen Polan

Production – Smuggler
Director: Henry-Alex Rubin
Executive Producers: Patrick Milling-Smith / Brian Carmody
Executive Producer: Drew Santarsiero
Head of Production: Alex Hughes
Producer: Leah Allina
Production Supervisor: Ashley Roberts
Assistant Production Supervisor: Ricky Small
1st AD: Edward Walsh
Director of Photography: Matthew Woolf
Production Designer: Justin Allen
Wardrobe: Jenna Wright
Casting Director: Jodi Sonnenberg of Sonnenberg Casting

Editorial – Cartel
Editor: Kyle Valenta
Editor: Fernanda Cardoso
Assistant: Grant Hall
Senior Producer: Vietan Nguyen
Executive Producer: Lauren Bleiweiss

VFX: preymaker | Creative + Technology 

Makers:
Angus Kneale
Melanie Wickham
Verity Grantham
Jamie Scott
Adam Scott
Simon Holden
Greg Cutler
Brandon Phillis
Christian Reyes
Zach Fortin

Audio – Sonic Union
Rob Ballingall – Sound Design/ Mix

Media Agency – Connect
PR Agency – Alison Brod Marketing + Communications