PALM BEACH, Fla. — After a historic 2023, Molson Coors faced a critical test in 2024.
Speaking on stage at the 2025 Beer, Wine & Spirits Summit in Palm Beach on Monday, Molson Coors’ President of U.S. Sales Brian Feiro said the company delivered.
“I believe we passed that test and now we’re ready to build on it,” he said.
Feiro’s presentation focused on the U.S. and he pointed to three reasons he’s excited for Molson Coors’ U.S. plans in 2025: the company held onto much of its 2023 share gains, it has big initiatives coming for its core and above-premium brands, and its distributor partners and key customers believe in the company.
Lay of the land
Feiro started by explaining how Molson Coors’ U.S. core brands, Coors Light, Miller Lite and Coors Banquet, collectively held onto a substantial portion of the share they gained in 2023.
“Our core brands wound up retaining approximately 80% of that share,” said Feiro. “And our share in the third quarter of 2024 was nearly 2 points ahead of where it was in the same period in 2022.”
Feiro credited the plans the company devised for its core brands, as well as its category-first approach to partnering with distributors and retailers, which he believes set up the results in 2023.
“When a historic opportunity arose, consumers chose them,” he said.
Second, Feiro praised Molson Coors’ plans to strengthen its U.S. core and accelerate its above-premium brands.
“[The plans have] been paying off, and we expect it to continue to pay off, as we bring more investment and breakthrough programming in 2025,” he said.
Last year, Coors Light became the No. 1 brand in grocery on a volume share in 2024, and its “Choose Chill” platform is one that is connecting with consumers.
As for Miller Lite, Feiro said that Molson Coors will spend the year celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary. “We can celebrate with our core drinkers and invite new people in,” he said. “And what’s better on your birthday than having another Miller Lite?”
Feiro also touched on the rapid growth of Coors Banquet, which is the fastest-growing beer brand of the industry’s top 15 volume share brands.
“I call it our rocket ship to the moon,” he said. “Coors Banquet has found itself in the culture, which is bringing in a new generation of drinkers. We’re going to continue to put strong media behind it.”
In the above-premium space, spiked refresher Happy Thursday became a top 10 innovation brand according to Circana. Molson Coors also began to onshore production of Peroni last year, and the company intends to scale the brand this year.
Feiro noted that while the company is “a long way from declaring victory,” it’s starting to see traction for the Blue Moon family. He believes there’s a lot of runway for Blue Moon Light, which is up 8.6% in dollar sales for the past 13 weeks versus the previous year, according to Circana. Blue Moon Non-Alcoholic also broke into the top 10 non-alc brews in dollar share, according to the last 13-week period in Circana.
Finally, Feiro explained that he’s confident because of Molson Coors’ strong customer relationships.
“Our customers – distributors and retailers – believe in us,” he said.
Feiro highlighted the positive relationship with retailers, as Molson Coors earned a significant amount of space in the 2024 spring shelf resets. Then it not only retained the space in the 2024 fall resets but added more. He believes Molson Coors’ brands have a good chance of maintaining that shelf space in the 2025 spring resets.
In August, Molson Coors was also ranked as the No. 1 supplier in the Tamarron Survey. The company received especially high marks in the “Leadership & Strategy” and “Relationships & Communications” categories.
Feiro also pointed to the strong net promoter score on the recent Distributor Experience (DX) survey and the No. 1 large supplier ranking in the on-premise by the CM Profit Group. Numerous retailers also picked Molson Coors as supplier of the year.
“I pay attention to where our distributors are placing their investments, and they’re investing with us,” Feiro said. “We’re grateful for that and we’ll never stop working for them.”