Topo Chico Hard Seltzer wants consumers to ditch Cinco De Mayo frills

Dive Brief:

• Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, owned by Molson Coors, is celebrating Cinco De Mayo with a new national ad campaign to promote its margarita hard seltzer line, according to a press release.
• The first ad in the series positions the canned, margarita-flavored hard seltzer as superior to frilly, over-the-top margarita options. The fresh creative builds on a new pop-up shop in New York and online, where people can exchange Cinco de Mayo tchotchkes — like shot glasses, shirts or fake mustaches — for a rebate on Topo Chico Margarita Hard Seltzer.
• Topo Chico’s latest efforts around promoting its hard seltzer puts simplicity and cool at the forefront, likely in a bid to capture young audiences around Cinco De Mayo. The hard seltzer, which was released earlier in April, plays to millennial sensibilities as the consumer base searches for lower-calorie alternatives to traditional alcohol.

Dive Insight:

Beyond being a celebration of Mexican-American culture, Cinco De Mayo is a widely-celebrated drinking holiday, with Americans of all stripes flocking to bars for tacos and tequila. Topo Chico, the No. 4 bestselling hard seltzer in America, naturally wants to get in on the action as seltzer swells in popularity.

During the 15-second advertisement, a couple enters a bar and are served frilly margaritas with tchotchkes stuck in the drink, making it nearly undrinkable. Then, a leather-jacket clad woman comes in and is served a notably plain, unfrilly Topo Chico Margarita Hard Seltzer, much to the envy of the couple.

“The margarita is a beloved drink, but it comes with some baggage, in the way of cheesy margarita culture,” Matt Escalante, vice president of hard seltzers at Molson Coors, said in the press release. “So our new spots show how Topo Chico Margarita Hard Seltzer is making the margarita ‘nueva’ again with a new take on the classic cocktail.”

The brand’s latest ad campaign and pop-up shop play into millennial sensibilities, putting cool and independence at the forefront of creative surrounding a lower-calorie drink. The release of the advertisement helps to raise the national profile of the beverage a week prior to Cinco de Mayo, the first in two years not bogged down in pandemic restrictions.

Millennials have largely fueled the growth of the hard seltzer craze, which is dominated by White Claw and Truly. However, the market has grown increasingly competitive as other canned cocktail options become more commonplace.