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Corona: Brand Voice Analysis

Company Background
Corona is a beer brand produced by the Mexican brewery Grupo Modelo in 1925. The year after
establishing Corona, Grupo Modelo considered using dark-colored bottles to preserve and
increase the beer’s flavor. In the end, it ended up using clear, transparent bottles. Since then, the
unique shape of the bottle has become an iconic and legendary symbol of the brand.

According to Forbes, Corona has recently been the leading brand in Mexico. Since the
introduction of Corona Extra, Corona's first product line, to the U.S. market in 1981, the
company has become the fastest-growing imported beer in America's history. Today, Corona is
imported to the U.S. by Constellation Brands and more than 120 other countries. With the
success of Corona in the U.S. markets, the company now ranks fifth, behind Heineken, Molson,
Beck’s and Moosehead, Bruce Horovitz wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

Brand Personality
Corona has five distinct brand personalities: refreshment, relaxation, joy, sophistication and
environmental friendliness.

Refreshment:
Corona uses the word “refreshing” in most of its advertisements and website. Refreshments
became a signature value of Corona that the brand always wanted to bring a uniquely refreshing
taste of lager to its customers. With simple ingredients such as water, barley malt, non-malted
cereals and hops, the products have a light, crisp and clean flavor. “It’s not just that it’s a
Mexican beer,” said Laurie Fontenot in her article about Corona’s branding. “But it’s
thirst-quenching, can be enjoyed with an active lifestyle, is all about kicking back and enjoying
life and pushing the pause button.”

Relaxation:
Relaxation is an experience that Corona wants to bring to its consumers, as communicated
through its many advertising campaigns. In many YouTube commercial videos, Corona features
images of tropical beaches, sounds of waves and people enjoying the beer, creating a feeling of
relaxation and vacation mode. For example, it used the tagline “Find Your Beach” in one of its
campaigns “because the beach is all about relaxation and laid-back fun,” said Bill Hackett, the
Former Chairman of Constellation Brands.

Joy:
Along with relaxation, the brand’s “La Vida Más Fina” Campaign marked a refreshing take on
the lifestyle that Corona wanted to spread -- a joyful and optimistic lifestyle. According to an
article by Cision, the basic idea of La Vida Más Fina, which translates to "the Fine Life," is that
people can find greater joy and fulfillment in any situation by just changing their perspectives.

Sophistication:
Corona markets itself as a high-end beer that consumers can enjoy in a more sophisticated way.
Its clear bottle has a unique shape, and the beer is often served with a piece of lime. Both of these
things add to the sophisticated and unique imagery of the beer.

Environmental friendliness:
Corona's “Protect Our Beach” Marketing differentiates it from other beer brands. The brand has
invested in recyclable packaging and conducted efforts to encourage ocean preservation in
keeping with its reputation as an environmentally conscious brand.

To learn more about Corona's brand personality, we may utilize brand archetypes, which are
character representations of brands based on 12 basic human desires and values. The goal of
developing the archetype is to generate a brand story and an emotional connection with the target
audience.

The archetype of Corona is the Explorer. According to Lily Tillman’s article about brand
archetypes, the final goal of the Explorer is to live a fascinating and fulfilling life, which matches
the slogan “La Vida Más Fina” of Corona.

If Corona were a person, he or she would be a young, sociable and energetic person who loves to
spend a relaxing time with his or her friends on the beach, explore new things and travel to many
places around the world. We can visualize Corona’s Twitter as a personal account whose posts
are photos of beaches from his or her vacations. In addition, Corona could be an influential
person with his or her efforts to change the marine environment and raise awareness of global
issues.

Corona vs. other beer brands

Packaging
Corona’s clear long-neck bottle and the painted label have been distinctive features since the
brand was first launched. In many advertisements, the beer is served with a slice of lime in the
bottle. This ritual has contributed significantly to defining the drink from its competitors.
“And it turned out that our consumers connected and identified with these points of difference
and became very loyal advocates,” said Fontenot.

Environmental Preservation
Corona's commitment to environmental preservation is a unique attribute that differentiates it
from other beer brands. The brand has launched several campaigns to make an impact on ocean
conservation, and we will analyze those campaigns in the following sections.
“La Vida Más Fina” Lifestyle
This tagline of Corona sets it apart from other brands that focus on sports, parties and other
activities. The brand brings not only refreshing beverages but also a unique perspective and
lifestyle.

Target Customers
In a SWOT analysis of Corona, Aditya Shastri suggested that Corona has historically catered to
an older demographic than its competitors, namely well-educated consumers who value
sophistication and elegance in their beer. Corona is marketed to both genders, but studies show
that it is more popular among female consumers with its light and refreshing taste.

However, the target market could potentially shift as Corona’s commercials fascinate groups of
young people who desire new and unique experiences. In an analysis of Corona’s marketing
strategies, Darbinyan Perch concluded that the consumer segment of Corona is Progressives.
“They are young and intellectual people who are mainly interested in other cultures,” said Perch.
“Traveling and visiting new countries are the activities they like the most. They are people who
do not like to be seen as mainstream and have their own style.”

As its campaigns in cleaning the beaches continue to grow, Corona also focuses on a broader
target with a broader mission of “protecting our beach” -- not just enjoying a refreshing and
relaxed lifestyle. The target customers can be anyone who wants to impact on the environment
and be planet protectors and leaders.

Key Marketing
Corona has used a variety of marketing campaigns to increase brand perceptions.

One of Corona’s major campaigns is “Protect Our Beach.” Its commitment is to be “the first
brand to achieve a net-zero plastic footprint,” said the brand. Besides its main website, Corona
built a separate website to promote this campaign and raise customers’ awareness of ocean
conservation and plastic pollution. For example, the website shows that Corona has protected
246 islands and completed 1,430 clean-ups with the support of 68,678 volunteers.

Moreover, Corona and the 100+ Accelerator entered into a partnership and launched the Plastic
Free Challenges to collaborate with startups to develop sustainable technologies that can
eliminate plastic use. In addition, through its "Protect Our Beaches" Campaign with Oceanic
Global, a non-profit leader in ocean conservation, Corona is committing to remove 1 million
pounds of plastic from shorelines and its company by the brand's 100th birthday in 2025.

Another impressive campaign of Corona that makes it stand out from other brands is the “La
Vida Más Fina” Campaign in collaboration with Snoop Dogg. As analyzed in the brand
personality section, this campaign aims to spread a joyful and enjoyable lifestyle for consumers.
"La Vida Más Fina is a modern expression of Corona's lifestyle and respected place in culture,"
said Ann Legan, Vice President of Corona’s Brand Marketing. "Through the new campaign,
we're acknowledging that the aspects of our lives that have always been important always will
be: doing what makes you feel good with the people you care about and enjoying the moment in
front of you."

"You can't choose everything in life, but you can still choose to find the fine in life," said Snoop
Dogg. "Teaming up with a brand like Corona to encourage people to find more good in life, that's
La Vida Más Fina."

The tagline “La Vida Más Fina" now becomes the key message of Corona and is labeled in
almost all of the brand’s product lines. The campaign is also featured on its social media
platforms. For example, Corona’s YouTube videos are short videos, with people sitting on the
deckchairs and enjoying Corona beer with the scene of peaceful beaches and sounds of crashing
waves, which helps imply the brand personality of relaxation, joy and refreshment. Although the
videos are short, they are made up of creative and funny content, helping viewers to absorb the
messages easily. The videos successfully showed how consumers could spend their fine life with
Corona.

Corona also has successfully promoted its brand reputation on social media.

On Twitter, unlike other beer brands that post videos and photos of their products, Corona posts
many photos of beautiful beaches and nature around the world. This implies one of the brand
personalities -- environmental friendliness. Posts about the beauty of nature can raise the
audience’s awareness of its “Protect Our Beach” Campaign. Also, the brand uses the hashtag
#ThisIsLiving in its biography and many tweets, representing the joyful personality of Corona.

The brand does not have a separate online newsroom. All of its press releases and news are
posted on Constellation Brands’ online newsroom. The updated news about Corona’s “Protect
Our Beaches” Programs or the launch of new product lines are released on the online newsroom.

Brand Effectiveness
Corona has successfully created a unique brand voice that reflects brand personalities --
refreshment, relaxation, joy and environmental friendliness. The brand has gained global
recognition and has become popular among consumers who value a premium, refreshing beer.
Corona’s environmental commitment and campaigns have been a smart strategy and effective in
differentiating the brand, showing its focus on a noble and global mission: the elimination of
plastic pollution. This has marked Corona as one of the more eco-friendly brands. Moreover, the
spiritual lifestyle that Corona wants to spread promotes optimism and fulfillment, which
represent its target audience’s traits. Along with those factors, its packaging and marketing
campaigns sets Corona apart from its competitors.