Corona's Iconic Holiday Ad Returns to TV for 27th Year
What got me on this was I was watching TV and this commercial came on. I said to my wife, "This commercial has been on forever. I wonder how long it's been running?" So I looked it up. This story is from 2 years ago when it was 25 years. Second longest running Christmas commercial behind the Hershey's Kisses Bells.
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For Corona Extra consumers, the holiday season is synonymous with a decorated palm tree on the beach.
Corona’s iconic “O' Tannenpalm” holiday ad will return to TV airwaves on Friday, marking the spot’s 25th consecutive year on air. The commercial is remarkably simple with no people, no dialogue, no product and very little action—just a cabin, a few palm trees and a whistled Christmas carol. The spot is meant to capture the essence of Corona as a “passport to carefree enjoyment,” said Jim Sabia, chief marketing officer of Constellation Brands Inc.’s STZ -2.80% beer division.
The 30-second ad opens with a shot of a single cabin on a tranquil island at dusk. The colorful lights on a nearby palm tree are switched on while the tune of “O Tannenbaum” is whistled in the background. As the sky grows darker, a “Feliz Navidad” greeting from Corona appears in the bottom right corner of the screen.
“We’ve tried over the years to come up with another holiday ad, and every time we look at the storyboards and concepts we go back to this,” Mr. Sabia said. “It’s so simple, powerful and emotional. It’s extremely hard to beat.”
The commercial, created by ad agency Campbell Mithun Esty in 1990, is the longest-running beer ad and the second-longest-running holiday ad of any kind, behind Hershey’s famous kiss-bells spot. Corona is releasing a mini-documentary about the ad to commemorate its 25th anniversary.
Shipments of Corona have grown more than sevenfold since 1990 to 7.8 million barrels in 2014, according to data from Beer Marketer’s Insights. Corona is now the top import and fifth-best-selling beer in the U.S.
The brief from Corona 25 years ago was a “real simple assignment” to create a brand identity around the holidays, said Mike Rogers, who was chief creative officer of Campbell Mithun Esty in Chicago when the spot was created. The ad agency chose to film the commercial in Akumal, a beach resort on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Mr. Rogers was inspired by the decorative holiday lighting in Akumal when he visited on a family vacation and told the creative director on the Corona account about his trip.
“We wanted to keep it very clean so that there was no ambience of commercialism to the commercial,” said Mr. Rogers, 74, who is now retired.
Once on location, the shoot went very smoothly and required only 10 takes in one day, Mr. Rogers recalled.
“The biggest problem we had was finding the right palm tree,” Mr. Rogers said.
The clients were immediately pleased with the final result, Mr. Rogers said. Mr. Rogers estimates the budget for the ad was less than $50,000 and the brand didn’t have to pay residual fees since there were no actors in the spot.
“It was a really good bargain for them,” he said.
When brands stick with a piece of advertising for a long period of time, the creative becomes part of the brand equity, said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Still, it’s “incredibly unusual” for a brand to stick with a piece of advertising for as long as Corona has with its “O' Tannenpalm” spot, he said.
“Over time the spot can take on more and more meaning,” Prof. Calkins said. “People see it, they remember it and all of a sudden it becomes a particularly powerful type of communication.”
Constellation’s Mr. Sabia said Corona does ad copy testing every few years on “O' Tannenpalm” and regularly tracks responses on social media to the ad. The sentiment from consumers has consistently been positive, he said. This year, Corona will supplement its holiday spot with digital ads as well as use the ad’s iconic palm tree as a point-of-sale sign for retailers and distributors to display in store.
“We have something that’s a masterpiece. Why mess with it?” said Mr. Sabia, adding that the brand plans to continue to use the ad for years to come. “The fact that it’s as relevant or more relevant today than it was 25 years ago we believe is very powerful.”
The 25th anniversary of “O' Tannenpalm” comes as Corona has enjoyed a strong year for sales. Corona Extra sales are up 13% through the year ending Nov. 14, according to Nielsen data cited by Morgan Stanley. “We’re very pleased with the results in Corona and we will continue to invest in the brand,” Mr. Sabia said.
Looking back, Mr. Rogers said he wouldn’t change anything about the ad, noting “it’s one of the very few times I can actually say that.”
“It’s a thrill when my grandkids ask me about it,” Mr. Rogers said. “They can’t believe a commercial has been on the air so long.”
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