Is the Coronavirus Affecting Corona (Beer) Sales?

I’ll save you time and answer the question posed in the headline: No, the coronavirus isn’t impacting sales of Corona beer — not negatively, anyway.

In fact, research company IRI says that sales of Corona Extra in the US were up 5% for the four-week period ending in February 16.

This easily-researched fact, however —  backed by several sources, including the company that makes Corona, Constellation brands — hasn’t stopped many media outlets (looking at you, CNN and CBS) from trying to take advantage of this ‘trendy’ topic and publish or broadcast about the many ways the pandemic will damage Corona sales.

All they needed was a peg, as we say in the news business, and 5W Public Relations was on hand to provide it: The major US PR agency released the findings of a surveyOpens a new window it conducted at the end of February, and among them were some headline-grabbing percentages, such as that 16% of Americans are confused about the correlation between Corona Beer and the coronavirus.

Another figure making the rounds in the news was that 38% of American beer drinkers agreed they would not buy Corona “under any circumstances.” Ronn Torossian, CEO of PR agency 5WPR, went so far as to call it “a disaster for the Corona brand.”

As Justin Bariso writes for Inc.com:Opens a new window  “The statistic proceeded to spread rapidly across news outlets, aided by a CNN tweet that went viral.Opens a new window “

So what’s the actual current situation for the beer-maker?

Negative associations at worst

In this case, the obvious answer is the correct one. Corona beer sales aren’t dipping due to the incorrect, supposedly popular notion that the beverage is in some way connected to the disease.

Admittedly, the argument can be made that the association of the two alone is enough to have an adverse effect. One YouGov survey, for instance, found that Corona’s ‘buzz score’, a metric to measure public perception of a brand, has decreased substantially since the start of the year.

SEMrush meanwhile reported that there’s been a spike recently in internet searches for “corona beer virus” and “beer coronavirus.”

But people haven’t actually stopped buying Corona.

Some might contradict me and point to the fact that Constellation Brands’ stock dropped 8% on Thursday, February 27, and 4% on Friday, February 28, as coronavirus fears were spiking. But the reality is that the entire stock market has been suffering due to growing fears of the virus’s spread.

Any overall global sales dips of the beverage have actually been triggered by China’s blocking of imports and exports.

In other words, the only real negative impact that coronavirus is having directly and specifically on Corona beer sales is the not-so-nice association between their names.

Here’s the question, though: Is that actually a bad thing?

Why marketers should pay attention

While it isn’t exactly a PR crisis, this obviously isn’t a situation that Corona’s PR and marketing teams want to be in. That’s not to say it can’t be turned into an opportunity, despite the sticky connotations.

And therein lies the lesson: This is a great case study in making the most of difficult circumstances.

It’s also an important reminder to have an action plan in place so that your organization is prepared to deal with any bad pressOpens a new window that comes its way.

The beer brand has already started a campaign to do just that. Indeed, the company has offeredOpens a new window an initial $10 million to change the coronavirus name to “literally anything else” and a further $5 million if it’s changed to ‘BudLightvirus’.

While this makes for a cute story, it’s safe to assume Corona is well aware it will never happen. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the brand is taking the bull by the horns.

Is it a coincidence that this pledge was made a week after 5WPR released its survey findings? I think not. This is a calculated move to steer the narrative.

Around the same time the company offered the money, Constellation Brands CEO Bill Newlands released a strong a statement in which he recognized the seriousness of the coronavirus, expressed empathy to those affected by it, and shut down the notion that Corona sales had been affected.

Ultimately, this isn’t the worst situation to be in. Granted, these are ideal circumstances, yet Corona has been given a platform to engage consumers and customers — and drive traffic and interest in the brand where it wants.

With the power of social media marketing, Corona could turn this into an effective campaign.

Writing for Marketing WeekOpens a new window , Mark Ritson even claims that this will actually improve sales thanks to “the massive salience boost for Corona that is now happening,” which he explains “will propel the brand to top-of-mind status for millions of beer drinkers for many weeks to come.”

If I could give Corona one piece of advice, it would be take a page out of PR crisis management 101Opens a new window : Make good. While this counsel is normally given to companies that have made a mistake and need to apologize and show remorse, it could work for the beer company.

Sure, the beverage has nothing to do with the coronavirus, but I think it could turn negative association into positive by offering even just a fraction of that $10 million, for example, to helping mitigate the spread of the disease.

Just think of the goodwill and free press…