"Gambling" on Super Bowl ads seems to be a theme this year.
First, it was FanDuel, which will have Rob Gronkowski attempt to make a field goal live during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. Any FanDuel bettor that wagers more than $5 on the game will receive a portion of a $10 million pool of free bets if Gronkowski makes the 25-yarder.
Now, Molson Coors and its two main beer brands — Miller Lite and Coors Light — have teamed up with DraftKings to allow bettors to "wager" on various various aspects of their Super Bowl commercial this year.
Before the spot airs, viewers can log on to DraftKings and enter a free-to-play contest that has a $500,000 pool. Unlike the FanDuel advertisement, winners would receive actual money — not free bets.
While it is not known exactly how the $500,000 pool will be divided, those who correctly answer more out of 12 questions will win a greater percentage.
Some questions include:
- Which beer will be mentioned first in the commercial?
- What is the total number of beers seen in the spot?
- What type of dog will be pictured behind the bar?
- What will the bartender be wearing?
- Will the Coors Light Silver Bullet Train show up?
The beer giant is celebrating its first chance to advertise for the Super Bowl since 1989. From 1989 to 2022, Anheuser-Busch had a monopoly on Super Bowl beer ads, having bought the exclusive rights to air commercials.
With that exclusivity expired, Molson Coors is endeavoring to make up for lost time.
"Gamification and betting in general has blown up," said Sofia Colucci, global vice president for Miller's family of brands. "It's part of pop culture, everyone is betting on everything. The idea of predicting every detail of an ad that has been this long awaited felt epic and right for the moment."
No state gaming commission would let Molson Coors and DraftKings take actual money wagers on this sweepstakes because several people already know the outcome of the event. So it's free-to-play.
FanDuel conducted a similar workaround with their Super Bowl advertisement. FanDuel bettors cannot wager directly on Gronkowski to sink his field goal. Only by betting on a regulated Super Bowl market will they be entered into a pool of people eligible to receive $10 million in free bets.
Molson Coors hopes its unique approach will rekindle a lost art form — the Super Bowl ad that has fans on the edge of their seats.
"In recent years, so many brands have pre-released their ads and the magic has gone away," Colucci said. "We have something here that America will anxiously be anticipating."
