Turning a leadership meeting experiment into a multiyear consumer immersion program
EMRSIONEQ™ AT MILLERCOORS
How MillerCoors used EmersionEQ™ to make its Consumer First strategy real, helping leaders, brand teams, and agency partners move beyond research and build a richer instinct for the people behind the data.
CLIENT
MillerCoors, CMO and VPs across brand teams.
FOCUS
EmmersionEQ consumer immersion experiences.
AUDIENCE
Senior leaders, brand marketing teams, and agency partners.
FORMAT
A 90‑minute “immersion lite” session for 250 leaders plus evening bar excursions, followed by multiple two‑day deep‑dive immersions for intact brand teams and their agencies.
Making “Consumer First” real for leaders and brand teams
THE CHALLENGE
MillerCoors wanted its Consumer First strategy to show up in how leaders and teams actually thought and decided, not just in slides and strategy documents. Leaders had access to plenty of research and reporting, but most were too far removed from the daily lives, motivations, and nuances of the beer drinkers they were trying to serve. They needed a way to get beyond the data to develop stronger consumer instincts and align around who their brands were really serving.
THE APPROACH: EMERSIONEQ™
From “immersion lite” to full consumer experiences.
MillerCoors partnered with In Focus to design a two‑part EmersionEQ™ experience inside the leadership conference: a 90‑minute “immersion lite” ballroom session followed by evening excursions in smaller groups of about 50.
In the ballroom, leaders were introduced to real beer drinkers, heard their stories, and were guided to notice where their existing assumptions might be too simple or one‑dimensional. That same evening, leaders went out in groups to local bars with those consumers and their friends. In a natural setting, they could watch how people actually chose, ordered, and enjoyed beer—and talk about the role brands played in their lives.
The experience created a palpable buzz at the conference and gave the CMO a vivid way to demonstrate what Consumer First could look and feel like when leaders were closer to the people behind the numbers.
On the strength of that pilot, MillerCoors expanded into full EmersionEQ™ programs for intact marketing teams and their agency partners. At their most robust, these were two‑day immersions for roughly 30–35 participants that blended reflection, in‑market experiences, and structured synthesis so teams could learn by doing.
DAY 1
Awakening curiosity.
Participants surfaced their existing assumptions by building avatars of their target consumer—using mannequins, clothing, and short narratives to bring those assumptions to life. They then received selfie‑style videos from real consumers, introducing themselves, their families, work, interests, and lives. The contrast between the avatars and the real people created immediate curiosity and challenged oversimplified mental models.
DAY 1 EVENING
Deepening understanding.
Teams met their assigned consumers on their own turf. They visited the liquor stores those consumers shopped at to pick up beer, went to their homes to see their environments and share a drink, and then headed to the neighborhood bars those consumers frequented, where several friends joined in. The evening followed a series of structured interactions designed to move beyond “studying” consumers to actually participating in their world.
DAY 2
Applying what you’ve learned.
The second day focused on synthesis and action. Through a highly facilitated working session, participants named key insights and “aha” moments, explored white spaces and new opportunities, brainstormed possible responses, and translated what they had seen and heard into concrete implications for brand positioning, messaging, portfolio choices, and briefs.
WHAT MADE THIS WORK
Real people, surfaced assumptions, and shared experience
Real consumers, not composites.
Leaders and teams met actual beer drinkers in their own contexts, rather than only hearing about “targets” in a conference room.
Intact teams and agency partners together.
Bringing both through the same experience built a common language and gut‑level understanding of the consumer.
Assumptions surfaced first.
The avatar exercise made existing stereotypes visible and created space for participants to notice where those assumptions fell short.
Immersion plus integration.
The experience did not end with empathy; the structured day‑two work translated insight into white spaces, ideas, and specific next steps.
A multiyear program and deeper consumer instinct
RESULT
One especially powerful outcome was the way the pre‑immersion avatars became a visual reminder back at the office. Teams recognized that the mannequins reflected stereotypes and oversimplifications their previous research and agency narratives had reinforced. After immersion, they could see how much more there was to their consumer than the original “flat” representations suggested.
Over time, the EmersionEQ™ work helped teams shift internal language from segment labels and scores to richer human stories, strengthen alignment between brand teams and agency partners around who the real consumer is, and ground strategic decisions in shared experiences with consumers, not just decks and dashboards.
A successful “immersion lite” session for 250 leaders led to several deep‑dive EmersionEQ™ experiences for individual brand teams.
95% of participants said the experience changed how they think about their target consumers.
90% said they would like to do the program again to dive into other consumer targets.
Participants reported being surprised by the depth and nuance they saw in consumers they had previously viewed in much more one‑dimensional ways.
What participants noticed:
“I’ll never look at this consumer segment the same way again—we met real people, not just a persona on a slide.”
“Seeing how our brands actually show up in their homes and nights out made our strategy conversations much more concrete.”
“This changed the way I’ll brief my team and our agencies—we now have shared stories, not just a deck.”
Talk about an EmersionEQ™ program
at your company.
If your teams are rich in research but still feel distant from the people behind the data, EmersionEQ™ can help leaders and brand teams experience those consumers directly—and turn what they learn into more grounded strategy, briefs, and decisions.