MOLSON LAUNCHES BEER WITH TV STRAW POLL
By Adnews Staff
Molson Breweries has boosted its share of the Quebec beer market by 2%, mainly with its new Molson Grand Nord brand, launched the third week of June with an innovative television promotion. Six weeks after the beer was launched, awareness of Grand Nord was 94% among beer drinkers. This is what Brasserie Molson-O'Keefe president André Tranchemontagne recently told a meeting of l'Association marketing de Montréal. In June and July Molson ran a spot on three French television networks in which comedians Denis Bouchard and Gildor Roy ended up falling through the air. The commercial finished by asking viewers to phone in their votes on where the two should land, on a submarine or a whale. In three weeks 992,000 people called in and the submarine won with 53% of the vote. The next commercial had the pair ending up in front of a chalet, with viewers asked to choose whether the two would be confronted by the Crazy Devils biker gang or the more alluring Nature Goddesses. The results of this poll will be aired during a Montreal Canadians hockey game on Saturday - the Canadians being a Molson property. Along with the television ads, the new beer was originally sold at a discount in grocery stores, while two-for-the-price-of-one deals were offered in bars and restaurants. The commercials were created by Cossette Communication-Marketing in Montreal.