Carrollton, Texas-based T.G.I. Friday’s developed a new Buy Your Friend A Beer Facebook application to complement its Better with Brew menu. By “liking” the Friday’s fan page and placing an order through the custom tab, Facebook users 21 years and older can buy their Facebook friends as many as five beers. Recipients receive an electronic gift card to redeem in the restaurant. Purchase price is set at $5, regardless of the recipient’s regional location, and is redeemable for any beer of choice, including a selection of regional craft beers; non-alcohol beverage or food item at any local T.G.I. Friday’s.
Roswell, Ga.-based Gila Brew Co., re-launched its CJ Crunk Juce line of flavored malt beverages in new packaging and flavors. The new design targets CJ’s audience of 21- to 29-year-old males and females, the company says. Packaged in 23.5-ounce cans, CJ Crunk Juce features colored bands representing the flavor profiles between the gray gothic text on a distressed black background. The design is intended to help the brand stand out from other flavored malt beverages, the company says. CJ Crunk Juce is available in Fruit Punch, Grape and Watermelon varieties and contains 6 to 12 percent alcohol by volume depending on the market, the company says.
The MillerCoors brewery in Wisconsin is located on a 90-acre campus in the heart of Milwaukee, in what used to be the corporate headquarters for Miller Brewing — MillerCoors now has its headquarters in Chicago.
There are certain things you’ll see in most beer commercials on TV: attractive women, endearingly lunkheaded guys, streams of golden brew. And there’s one thing you’ll see in commercials for Miller Lite, Coors Light and other MillerCoors products: A reference to the packaging. “In all of our commercials, you will see a package featured,” says Curtis Babb, MillerCoors’ director of packaging materials and development. “It’s not just talking about the brand esoterically. It talks about the brand with the package, specific to that particular communication.”
After the previous year’s trend of trading down to below-premium brands, in 2010 brewers narrowed the price gap between below-premium and premium brands.
Heineken’s portfolio of import beers grows following its acquisition of CCM. This year’s acquisition of Fomento Económico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V.’s (CCM) beer operations by Heineken N.V., Amsterdam, is described as a love story within a business context by John Nicolson, New York-based Heineken Americas’ regional president.