A second alternative for Molson is to use one of their topopportunities mentioned in the SWOT analysis, their sports and entertainmentssponsorships.
(figure 1) A way to usethat opportunity is to run sporting events campaigns through a photo challenge contest.Since hockey is one the leading sports in Canada, Molson can do a hockey teamsfans photo challenge as they have previously done with the “Cold Shot” campuschallenge. The fan team with the most pictures of themselves drinking Molsonproduct posted on the Facebook group profile could be named Molson mostvaluable hockey fan and could get a cash award or a paid vacation trip. To implementthis plan, Molson will need to have a designated strategic communication teamin charge of producing and running the ads on social media. In addition, theywill need to have a legal consultant team that will go over the ads contents beforethere are published to avoid potential lawsuits, and uproar from society. Thesecond alternative seems to be best course of action for Molson, and it willhelp spread their brand awareness around the country and beyond. This alternativeshould have a direct impact on sales as well.
The first alternative for Molson is to keep advertising tocollege students between the age of 19 to 24 by running a responsible choicesad campaign that encourages responsible consumption of alcohol. By doing so,Molson will still be practicing their mission value of promoting “legal andresponsible decisions about drinking.” () As an incentive, Molson may give scholarshipreward to the college with the lowest drinking related accidents on campus.However, this alternative may be dangerous because there are under age studentson campus and the question will remain, is Molson promoting under-age drinking?Molson’s attempt to promote their products through socialmedia was an epic failure.
The “Cold Shot” campus challenge targeted at studentsbetween the age of 19 to 24 to increase their brand awareness resulted inMolson withdrawing their ad a week prior to its end date. () Molson’s idea touse their Facebook profile seemed like an excellent idea and great opportunity atthe time. However, Canadian universities’ administrators and students felt thatthey were getting a bad reputation associating with Molson’s campus challenge contestthus became one of Molson’s weakness because they were unconsciously promotingunder age and binge drinking.
Molson’s could face lawsuits threats because oftheir failed marketing strategy. As a result, Molson’s upper level managementmay want to stop the usage of social media to promote their brand which, is oneof Molson’s leading opportunity. As a well-known company, Molson can use socialmedia as an avenue to spread their brand around the country and beyond. Athreat that Molson faces by using social media as an avenue for promoting theirbrand, is the loss of control over the contents of their ads on social mediawebsites. (figure 1) How can Molson use social media to best use?
