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MillerCoors is gearing up for summer, committing to a season-long sponsorship deal with Turner Entertainment that includes integrations seeded throughout original TBS, TNT and truTV programming.
Beginning June 10, the beer manufacturer’s Miller Lite brand will be featured in a live commercial set to run on TBS’ late-night talk show Lopez Tonight. (Host George Lopez will talk up the curious new Miller Lite Vortex bottle, which looks like a standard 12-oz glass container, but for a series of spiral grooves ringing the inside of the neck.) The Milwaukee brew will be visible on the Lopez set all summer long, bubbling up in an on-stage VIP lounge and on an in-show billboard.
Joining Miller Lite on TBS is the three-year-old ultra-light brand MGD 64, which will play a supporting role in My Boys, returning for its fourth and final season July 25. The placement is a particularly apt fit for my Boys, a sitcom about a Chicago sports columnist and her posse of male friends. (Beer is featured so prominently in the show that it’s practically a character.)
MGD 64 will also make a splash on TNT’s new cop drama, Rizzoli & Isles, appearing in custom tune-ins and on-air billboards. The Angie Harmon vehicle bows July 12.
Finally, Miller Lite will reprise its earlier deal with truTV’s Black Gold, lining up for an eight-episode arc in season three of the unscripted series.
The Turner-MillerCoors deal was orchestrated by Initiative and the beer maker’s in-house unit, MillerCoors Media.
Turner’s portfolio of three entertainment networks allows Miller Coors “to showcase both brands to a relevant audience,” said Linda Yaccarino, executive vp and chief operating officer, Turner Entertainment ad sales/marketing and acquisitions, by way of announcing the deal. “This smart collaboration is another example of placing the right spots in the right places at the right times.”
Miller Lite last year invested $134 million in measured media in 2009, per Kantar Media data. Flagship Coors Light spent $152 million in 2009. Miller Genuine Draft, MGD 64 and Keystone are lighter spenders, together laying out around $22 million on media.
