Selecciones - Webs

Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
IMC PERSPECTIVE 8-4
V. Developing the
Integrated Marketing
Communications Program
8. Creative Strategy:
Planning and Development
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
Miller Lite Searches for the Right Campaign Theme
One of the most memorable and successful advertising
campaigns of all times was the “Tastes Great, Less
Filling” theme for Miller Lite beer, which began in 1974.
The campaign used humorous commercials featuring
famous (and not-so-famous) ex-athletes and other
celebrities arguing over whether the brand’s main
appeal was its great taste or the fact that it contained
fewer calories than regular beer and was less filling.
The campaign ran for 17 years and helped make Miller
Lite the second-best-selling beer in the United States
for many years, as well as making light beer a legitimate
segment of the beer market.
In the late 80s, Miller began taking the campaign in
a new direction, and the ads began moving away from
the use of ex-athletes. Although the tagline was still
being used, the executions started using rock bands,
old movie and party scenes, the Miller Lite girls, and
other images in order to appeal to a broader and
younger market. Miller Lite was also facing strong competition
in the light-beer market from other brands
such as Bud Light and Coors Light. Despite not entering
the market until 1982, Anheuser-Busch had developed
Bud Light into a strong brand and Coors Light had
replaced the flagship brand as the company’s bestselling
product. By the early 90s, Miller Lite was continuing
to lose market share and the company decided to
drop the “Tastes great, Less Filling” campaign. What
followed was a six-year odyssey of advertising flip-flops
that included adolescent humor and far-out wit to
chase young male beer drinkers. Spots featuring cowboys
singing good-bye to their beer on the way to the
bathroom didn’t help sell a lot of Miller Lite.
In early 1999 Miller dusted off the 24-year-old formula
of having people debate
the merits of the brand. The new
ad theme, “The Great Taste of a
True Pilsner Beer,” pitted celebrities
against one another in mock
arguments over whether Miller
Lite tastes great because its
smooth or because of its choice
hops. Miller marketing people
felt the celebrity-bickering
approach would work a second
time because the new campaign
was different from the original
ads. In the new campaign there
was no more talk about “less filling,”
since this claim had lost its
uniqueness as other light beers
appeared. The ads focused on
Miller Lite’s taste and ingredients,
which is what the company
felt really mattered to beer
drinkers. This campaign lasted less than a year: Miller
switched agencies as well as ad themes and revived the
30-year-old “Miller Time” tagline that was used in the
1970s for the Miller High Life brand. The new ads, from
the Ogilvy & Mather agency, modified the theme to
“Grab a Miller Lite. It’s Miller Time” and featured guys
bonding over beer, sexy women, and humorous
vignettes. They showed friends doing things and
enjoying their time together and focused on the ritual
and camaraderie of having a beer. The agency’s creative
director noted: “When we get down to the heart
and soul of the brand, it’s always been about the occasion
and the time guys spend together—the banter and
the real talk.”
In 2002 the agency took the bonding concept in a
slightly different direction with a new campaign for
Miller Lite featuring ads that focus on real consumer
insights and storytelling. The commercials open with a
flashback to an embarrassing moment and end showing
the embarrassed person telling the story. For example,
one of the ads begins with a couple in a car, each
with something he or she wants to discuss. The young
man talks first, telling the woman he doesn’t want to
marry her. She then tells him that she won millions in
the lottery. The commercial ends with the man telling
the story to friends while playing pool and, afterward,
one of the friends sneaking off to phone the woman
for a date. Each ad closes with the slogan “Life is best
told over a great-tasting Miller Lite at a place called
Miller Time.” Print executions also focus on the theme
of friends getting together to enjoy a Miller Lite.
The new Miller Lite ads have been received very
favorably by Miller beer distributors and by consumers.
Some critics have
argued that, with the storyteller
ads, Miller has created one of its
most popular campaigns since
“Tastes Great, Less Filling.” A
Miller executive notes: “This
whole storytelling metaphor is
very powerful. Consumers tell us,
‘This is how I drink beer with my
friends.’ ” Of course, the company
hopes that the new ads ensure
that Miller Lite is the brand consumers
are drinking when they
get together with their friends.
Sources: Michael McCarthy, “Miller
Turns to Classic Strategy,” USA TODAY,
Aug. 5, 2002, p. 2B; Sally Beatty, “Philip
Morris Taps Old Formula to Help Boost
Miller Lite Brand,” The Wall Street Journal,
Mar. 15, 1999, p. B5.