Coors Banquet nods to 'Smokey and the Bandit' with mobile scavenger hunt

Dive Brief:

Coors Banquet is giving fans the chance to win the keys to a fully restored 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and enough cash to buy beer for a year through a new scavenger hunt activation, per a press release.
The premium label marketed by Molson Coors Beverage Co. is encouraging interested participants to submit their information to a special website to enter the running. On Friday, June 11, those registered will receive an email containing one of five clues the brand will share to guide users to different locations in its home state of Colorado.
Each correct location will be marked by a QR code that opens the next clue when scanned. Participants must also snap a selfie at the stops on their journey to the Firebird keys. The campaign shows Coors Banquet drawing on its smuggler-image roots while putting a larger focus on mobile engagement.

Dive Insight:

Coors Banquet is gamifying its mobile marketing strategy with a scavenger hunt that will put fans on a quest to secure the keys to an iconic muscle car and a prepaid card worth $500.

The tech-oriented play, which leverages a mix of QR codes, email and user-generated content, complements a new ad campaign emphasizing the Golden, Colorado-based brand's smuggler roots. A stark black-and-white spot depicts mysterious figures meeting to trade cases of beer out of a muscle car, ending with the tagline, "Stolen, smuggled and sought after since 1873."

While Coors Banquet doesn't explicitly reference "Smokey and the Bandit" in its press materials, the 1977 hit film starring the late Burt Reynolds serves as an obvious inspiration. In the road comedy, which was followed by several sequels, Reynolds' character Bo "Bandit" Darville drives a black Pontiac Firebird Trans Am to smuggle cases of Coors across state lines while antics ensue .

"Smokey and the Bandit" helped enshrine the Firebird as a desirable muscle car, and its value among collectors endures to this day, as detailed in an article in the Detroit Free Press. Reynolds' own Firebird sold for $172,000 at auction last year.

Coors Banquet is also dangling some perks for those who can't make the trip to Colorado for the scavenger hunt, which runs through June 13. The brand will post trivia on its Instagram page and award select winners with a year's supply of beer.