Miller High Life: During Times of Doom & Gloom, is Less Really More?
Kudos to MillerCoors for leveraging the “economic crisis” to their advantage in a smart, tasteful, 1-second ad during the Super Bowl for its Miller High Life brand. If you have yet to catch a glimpse of this fleeting spot, you can do so on the web – though keep in mind that outside the context of the Super Bowl’s extravagance, the wit and message may be lost.
With companies like Coke, Pepsi, GoDaddy.com, and Frito-Lay’s Doritos paying $3 million for 30-second ads (not to mention competitor Bud Light brewer Anheuser-Busch’s seven game-time spots), the Miller High Life ad is more a subtle economic statement than a frugal budget decision.
Based on the buzz on Twitter, which accounted for 67% of the online reaction to the Miller High Life ad, the ad was a huge success, transcending the gratuitous violence and disdain for corporate America that permeated other ads. The 1-second ad’s implied restraint created synergy with the High Life brand, sending a clear message the company had taken the “higher road.”
In a company press release, High Life senior brand manager Kevin Oglesby confirms that the commercial was in fact a strategic move: “Just like our consumers, High Life strives to make smart choices. One second should be plenty of time to remind viewers that Miller High Life is common sense in a bottle.”
While the fiscally-prudent card is an easy one to throw down in today’s climate, is it truly altruistic or more opportunistic?
Furthermore, what effect does this have on the advertising industry – especially if brewing companies with deeper pockets (compared to the auto industry) are scaling back?
You be the judge: In New York alone, media companies account for more than 160,000 jobs and $15 billion in wages.
Nice post Mike. I second your view on the strategy of the1-second ad.
And the most humorous thing to me about the companies that spend HUGE bucks on game ads is that most of them weren’t even good!
I totally missed that ad during the game! I’ve heard about it since then. I wonder how much the 1-second ad cost vs. the bigger ad campaigns from the other beer companies?
They really could have taken this concept in a number of places with a good looking woman, a guy in a clown costume, a guy at a bar, etc. saying “high life” in the ad. I wonder why they chose the warehouse guy? I like it, but I’m curious if they considered other spokespeople.
The 1-second ad cost $100,000 according to Financial Week:
http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090130/REG/901299992/1036
As an FYI, the “spokesperson” is comedian Windell Middlebrooks. Out takes and other 1-second ads that didn’t make the cut can be viewed on the viral site:
http://www.1secondad.com/
Thanks Mike for calling that out. We replayed the Miller 1-second spot several times, so I think it was a :10 spot in our house! It’s a great example of doing more with less. And Miller is a company that certainly could afford a :30 during the Super Bowl if they thought it was worth it.
Kudos to the Miller High Life brand team for inspiring us to think more creatively!
I agree that it was a great strategy by Miller! However, I tend to disagree that “One second should be plenty of time to remind viewers that Miller High Life is common sense in a bottle.” In my opinion, it was the build up for the ad (go PR!) and all of the online buzz following the ad that really makes the strategy work. If there were not these other elements to the campaign I think the one second ad most likely would have gotten lost.
That ad is too funny! I totally missed it during the game and agree with Caroline that the surrounding buzz is what made it really effective. If it wasn’t for PR I wouldn’t have even known about it. Still my favorite ad was the user generated “snow globe” commercial for Doritos. Now that was funny!