Upstart Direct to Consumer Marketing is Influencing Established Brands

MillerCoors discussed the launch strategy for its new drink, Cape Line sparkling cocktails, which will have a key component of the ad campaign focused on reaching women using Instagram. The VP of innovations at MillerCoors said that the Instagram focus is in response to the success that many upstart direct-to-consumer brands have had on the platform and its ability to target a specified demographic. While MillerCoors won’t be ditching traditional media altogether, the focus on a targeted campaign is a big change for the brand whose ad strategies are typically centered around mass media such as TV and billboard ads.

"They do such a great job of targeting you with the right type of messaging at the right time. We are going to take a very similar approach. We are going to essentially act like an Instagram brand." - Sofia Colucci, VP of innovations for MillerCoors

This is just the latest example of how the success of many DTC brands is starting to influence larger, established brands. We should expect to see more established brands look to mirror the more targeted strategies, especially as they seek to target millennial consumers. However, I think we will continue to find that this will be a slow transition for the large, established brands as they seek to mine their own customer data in an attempt to react to the new digital marketing trends.