Coors Light Seeks To Calm NCAA March Madness Stress With Beer-Flavored Lollipops

Coors Light seeks to bring some ‘chill’ to college basketball craziness with beer-flavoured ‘Chillollipops’ in a semi-serious social experiment to test the effectiveness of sucking on a lollipop for stressed-out sports fans whilst marketing to hoops fans.

To celebrate NCAA March Madness, Coors Light introduced a new, beer-flavoured lollipop called ‘Chillollipops’ which the brand claims can help over-hyped and over-excited college hoops fans stay calm through the red hot March Madness action.

The two-toned lollipops were designed to mimic the look and taste of a frothy beer, but contain no alcohol. The non-alcoholic sweets were sold online (a six-pack was priced at $3.17 in a nod to the tournament’s start date of March 17) and distributed in participating bars in select markets linked to college basketball.

The initiative is promoted through an integrated campaign with social content led by an online video featuring bar workers retelling March Madness horror stories of unruly patrons, along with patrons enjoying the treat as they watch a sports match, appearing significantly calmer than when the video began.

The ‘Chillollipop’ spot rolled out across the brands own channels from 16 March and it closes with the copy line ‘This March, we’re using a simple lollipop to help fired up basketball fans keep their cool. Seriously? Yes. Lick a Chillollipop. And take the mad out of madness. Same Madness. Less Mad.’

Brackets are busting, but don’t let that stress you out. Our Chillollipop is a non-alcoholic lollipop made to help you chill. Order your stress-relieving sucker at https://t.co/MIxtNRMXuD pic.twitter.com/me9rwP5WiT

— Coors Light (@CoorsLight) March 17, 2022

Those who buy or are given a lollipop are also encouraged to post about it on social media in an attempt to spur light-hearted, user-generated content which the brand will share to extend the lollipop’s reach beyond bars via Coors Light’s Instagram @coorslight and Twitter @coorslight.

The tournament-linked stunt by the Molson Coors brand emerged from research which discovered that ‘hard candy’ handouts can be an effective way to calm excited bar and club goers at the end of the night and the initiative also aims to further boost spiking beer sales – which rise around 19% through the month (according to WalletHub) – during the annual college basketball tournament. The beer brand initiative followed previous social experiments where lollipops and hard candies were distributed to club and bar goers at the end of the evening to calm them down.

Coors Light worked on the project with Manhattan College Professor Donald E Gibson, PhD.

“Emotions are contagious,” said Gibson. “If there are strong emotions around us, it’s very easy to be swept up in them. I believe that something as simple as a lollipop could have a calming influence in an emotionally charged situation.”

“March is one of the most stressful times of the year for a college basketball fan,” added Coors Vice President of Marketing Marcelo Pascoa. “During all the incredible highs and lows of March basketball, Coors Light is the brand to bring a moment of chill. Whether in the form of a Chillollipop to bring the calm, or a mountain-cold Coors Light to refresh spirits.”

Comment

So these beer-themed lollipops are intended to help calm fan tensions, while also being a fun, branded item for bars to distribute that can help Coors Light boost good will among beer-drinking consumers.