Innovation’s Silver Bullet

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nCoors Light is planning a new online advertising campaign, scheduled for mid-April, that will promote 4:53 as the new 5:00 for office workers. That’s right — the company is actually branding a specific time of the day in an effort to win over beer drinkers across America:

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“At 4:53 p.m. local time on weekdays, the Coors Light brand symbol,nan old-fashioned train called the Silver Bullet, will race acrossnentertainment, news and sports Web sites that are frequently visited bynthe brand’s core audience of men ages 21 to 34.

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The train’s briefnonscreen appearance will be followed by an invitation to “Catch then4:53 to Happy Hour” and a “Happy Hour Countdown” clock, both innonscreen spaces devoted to advertising. Other elements of the campaign,nby the Portland, Ore., office of Avenue A/Razorfish, part of aQuantive, may include maps displaying the locations of nearby bars and lounges serving Coors Light.”

Presumably, the Coors Light ads will be able to tell which time zone the user’s computer is set to – and then deliver the appropriate ad at exactly the right time. Otherwise, of course, the entire Left Coast of America will be getting sloshed refreshed three hours too early!

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Are there any other examples of companies attempting to brand a certain time of the day? The best example I can come up with is 4:20 — a time of the day that has special significance for a certain segment of the population engaging in a specific “extracurricular” activity.

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[image: The Coors Light 4:53 train]

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