Fairfax, Va. (April 11, 2023) – The Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) announced today that Molson Coors is the winner of the 2023 HMC Marketer of the Year Award, joining an elite list of organizations that have received the award, including AARP, Ford, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Sprint, State Farm, Toyota and Walmart. Molson Coors CMO Sofia Colucci will accept the award at HMC’s 2023 Annual Summit on April 27 in New York City and discuss how leading with in-culture Hispanic insights and investing in original multicultural work has paid dividends.

“Not only does Molson Coors prioritize the Hispanic market in its marketing mix, but its efforts are matched with creative excellence, Hispanic-led product innovations and meaningful partnerships,” said HMC Chair Isabella Sanchez, VP of Media Integration at Zubi. “Most significantly, Molson Coors has made a strategic shift from developing Hispanic-specific programs to building mainstream programs led by Hispanic insights and talent.”

To be considered for this prestigious award, companies had to demonstrate a top-down commitment to multicultural marketing and allocate spending commensurate with the Hispanic opportunity. Since 2017, Molson Coors has steadily increased their investment in the market year-over-year. In 2022, the brand’s Hispanic media investment represented 15.4% of the category’s media spend—a 30% growth in Hispanic spend share since 2020. By also increasing their English-language Hispanic spend, the brand has expanded its Hispanic investment to match their general market spend, reflective of a more sophisticated vision of the U.S. Hispanic market.

Recognizing culture as the key to reaching the mainstream

In 2017, Molson Coors reignited their efforts to better serve the multicultural market, specifically U.S. Hispanics. They redefined Hispanic-led work as “in-culture”—speaking to Hispanic insights and

Experiences—instead of merely “in-language.” With alma as their key agency partner, Molson Coors prioritized not only Spanish-language media to better reach Hispanic 21+ adults, but also culturally relevant English-language channels and platforms. They named U.S. Hispanics the priority growth target for Miller Lite, one of their flagship brands, leading to a slate of Hispanic-specific tactics in each of the brand’s campaigns, as well as smaller custom activations in key markets such as Animales Místicos, a design effort celebrating Hispanic NFL fandom; Conciertos, a series of local concerts; and programs around Posadas. Beside reprioritizing Hispanics as a main audience for their key brands, they also incorporated a Mexican beer into their portfolio for the first time, launching Sol in the U.S. during the summer of 2018.

Key partnerships in entertainment, sports and business development

• Miller Lite’s Es Jose Time effort with J Balvin was their first multimillion dollar partnership with a Hispanic celebrity. This commitment spanned into 2023 and includes TV, social, a bespoke redesigned pint, merch, and a partnership with the Acción Community Fund to support Hispanic small businesses. Hispanic consideration nearly doubled for consumers who interacted with the campaign, as did retailer demand for J Balvin-inspired pints, while overall Hispanic share rose by nearly a full point. In 2022, Es Jose Time brought home a Bronze from the AdForum PHNX Awards and a Bronze at FIAP for graphic production techniques. It also received two Bronze at the One Show Miami for packaging design and art direction.
• Sol increased their investment by entering into an exclusive partnership with Banda MS–the top ranked Billboards regional Mexican act– and expanding their collaboration with the band to include sweepstakes and a concert tour. Alongside this effort, the Mexican lager continued their investment in the Hispanic artistic community through its Artist Series packaging.
• Both Coors Light and TopoChico announced a four-year sponsorship to be the official beer and hard seltzer, respectively, of the Leagues Cup, a Hispanic-led soccer property that will be the first to feature all teams from Mexico’s Liga MX and the S.’ Major League Soccer in a single tournament. For Coors Light, this comes as a follow-up to Iceman to Canton, a 2021 effort that represents possibly the largest Hispanic-led effort by an NFL marketer, and an example of how a Hispanic-led insight can have widespread General Market impact.

Hispanic-led innovation

Molson Coors entered into Hispanic product innovation, something rarely seen from mainstream U.S. marketers. After launching TopoChico Hard Seltzer in 2021—a Hispanic-led play into the seltzer space—they expanded the brand’s offering in 2022 to ranch water and margarita flavors. The brand also sponsored the 2022 Latin American Music Awards to promote these new flavors

“At Molson Coors, we recognize that Latinos are a key growth segment as the U.S. becomes a multicultural majority,” said Colucci. “Our Hispanic marketing is all about originality, and we are committed to delivering work that deeply relates with the personal values and aspirations of the diverse Latino community.”

Taking place in person on April 26-27 in New York City, the HMC 2023 Annual Summit is the premier Hispanic Marketing Conference featuring dynamic and interactive sessions with notable newsmakers, C-suite leaders and top trendsetters. This year, the summit will focus on the rise of the multicultural majority with thought-provoking content to arm a new generation of culture creators with proven strategies to make an impact in today’s complex marketplace. Registration will open in February.

For more information, visit hispanicmarketingcouncil.org and follow the HMC on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hmchispanic using the conference hashtag #HMC2023.