Beer companies do brilliant marketing

It never ceases to amaze me some of the marketing/advertising strategies that come out of beer companies and their agencies. From the original patriotic inspiring Joe Canadian rant, the now popular Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World, to a simple Kokanee radio commercial I remember from about 12 years ago that made a poke at Molson for always handing out free t-shirts:

Announcer: Everybody loves winning, and now in every 18 bottle case of Kokanee glacier beer you will find a special prize.
Person rattling and opening a box
Male Voice: It's a box.....and there's beer inside!!!! (cheering noises)

Well, I just saw an ad on TV the other day for a brilliant new Molson Canadian campaign that is perfectly timed and i'm guaranteeing it will be adding to their sales numbers for the next while as it runs.

The Give'R campaign offers people a chance to buy specially marked boxes of their beer and on the box is a pin code that you can enter online. Now traditionally companies use the pin code system as a way for people to enter their contest, then the company gets that person's data, etc. This time Molson threw in a wrinkle because everytime you enter one of those codes Molson donates $5 to Canadian olympic and paralympic athletes. Genius. It makes the consumer feel even better about drinking their product and allows them to feel like they have helped contribute to their country's athletes. What a great way to sell a whole bunch of product, portray a patriotic, charitable brand image, AND get valuable information on every consumer to add to your growing database. Pure genius, and the person behind the campaign should be given a serious bonus.

I predict big things as a result of this campaign, way better than just giving away a t-shirt or offering the chance to win something.