Corona
Sun Beam

Extending the sunshine for
patio goers in need.

CLIENT: Corona (Labatt Brewing Company Ltd)
AGENCY: Zulu Alpha Kilo
YEAR: 2014
ROLE: Concept, Copywriter, Creative Director

Corona has a long-standing association with the beach. For many Canadians however, this positioning had come to represent a very narrow definition of escape – leaving Corona’s top of mind awareness limited to trips to the Caribbean.

But as the brand that "exists to radiate sunshine to our world” Labatt challenged us to re-establish it as a beer for everyday escapes – on the weekend, after work, anytime.

But simply talking about escape wasn’t going to be enough. An additional challenge was issued to bring the brand’s core positioning to life in the place Canadians choose most for soaking up summer sun – the local patio.

As all of North America learned what a Polar Vortex was, and cool temperatures dragged well into the beginning of patio season, the opportunity for a non-traditional approach to this on-premise challenge became clear. We also realized that many bars had patios that – due to their location and surrounding urban landscape – were unable to take advantage of what little warmth and real sunshine there was in the first place.

Inspiration came from the town of Rjukan, Norway, a small community situated deep within an east/west oriented mountain valley that receives no direct sunlight 6 months of the year.

Their solve? A large heliostat array installed high on the opposite mountain slope, positioned to bounce sunlight back down into the town square.

Adapting their advanced engineering solution to work within the confines of an urban environment, we designed, developed and launched the Corona Sun Beam – a mobile sunshine delivery vehicle equipped with a 62 ft. tall telescopic arm and 240 sq. ft. reflector. Once in place, the Sun Beam allowed us to keep real sunlight shining on the patio, extending the warmth and glow well past the hour when afternoon shadows would have normally killed the mood.

The on-premise activations were supported by a brand video appearing on both YouTube and Facebook.