MillerCoors Partners With IPG to Test On-Demand Delivery

MILWAUKEE — MillerCoors drinkers may never have to leave the couch again to purchase their favorite brews.

The brewer and IPG Mediabrands have partnered to pilot a new suite of connected home services called "Miller Lite On-Demand." The service allows consumers to stock their fridge using a voice-activated Amazon Alexa command, or by using a programmable button known as AWS IoT that is based on the Amazon Dash Button hardware, reported Adage.

The delivery requests will be fulfilled within one hour by Drizly, an online alcohol ordering platform. Drizly currently serves more than 40 cities, according to MillerCoors.

As part of MillerCoors' Digital Incubator initiative, the Miller Lite beer button is only available to a preselected group of 500 Drizly customers. Ordering via Alexa is open to owners of Alexa devices including Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Tap. Device owners can enable the option by searching for "Miller Time" in the Alexa skills store, while the ordering voice command is "Start Miller Time." 

"Consumers are expecting a frictionless shopping experience across every area of their lives and we're working to make it easier for legal drinking age consumers to get their hands on a beer through several testable areas," Brian Pokorny, senior manager of digital marketing and media at MillerCoors, said in a statement.

The program was developed by the IPG Media Lab, the creative technology agency of IPG Mediabrands.

The program comes as alcohol marketers continue to seek new ways to tap into connected-home technology. Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Michelob Ultra also announced its own Alexa skill called "Ultra 95" that unlocks 12 audio workouts designed to burn 95 calories, which is the same amount in each serving of the low-calorie beer. The brand — whose marketing positions the brew for health-conscious drinkers — partnered with health and wellness content provider Rodale Inc. on the initiative, Adage reported.