Mobilized Marketing: How to Drive Sales, Engagement, and Loyalty Through Mobile Devices

PART I

The Early Years

Sell more beer.

Since 1855 it has been the marketer’s reason for being at MillerCoors and its predecessor companies.

The job existed before radio’s invention in the late nineteenth century, before television came into our ancestors’ homes in the 1920s, and before Internet development began in the mid-twentieth century. There certainly was no digital media vying for consumer attention in the bygone eras.

The common thread between Steve Mura and those in marketing positions at MillerCoors before him is a daily need to have meaningful interactions with customers and prospects.

Mura, now director of digital marketing at MillerCoors, learned those lessons right out of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and used them through marketing and promotions positions at Sara Lee and ConAgra Foods.

“I started doing event marketing when I was young in my 20s, and the thing I liked about it was it really allowed you this great opportunity to almost bring a blue-collar mind-set to a white-collar world,” says Mura. “Event marketing is very much getting out there at fairs, festivals, and events and I loved that sort of one-on-one interaction. I loved the fact that at those places, fast talk and marketing speak and MBAs [masters of business administration] and all that stuff didn’t matter. It was about your opportunity to connect with the true consumer and that was really plain talk and creating connections. That has stayed with me over my whole career.

“Marketing is just ...