Have you seen this new Miller Lite commercial? It debuted on the NCAA men's basketball tournament? Still not sure? It's so remarkably ordinary, there's a very good reason you don't remember. 

So take another look...

Actually, it seems that "ordinary" was exactly what the misguided ad agency was going for. Every activity depicted--from bowling to barbecues to couch-potato-ing--seems designed to depict "everyday-ness." And across it all, there's a low-income/blue-collar look to the culturally stereotyped images, accompanied by an announcer's echoed voice recorded to sound amateur. Then there's the pounding-but-forgettable garage-band track. Ordinary as all get-out.

"la biére ordinarie"

The ad probably was sold to the clients as an homage to everyman. No doubt some dressed-in-all-black ad guy thoughtfully intoned an "insight" along the lines of: "Ordinary people, when they're doing ordinary things, drink beer." And it could be argued the creative people portrayed exactly that. But in doing so, they also did what ad-agency hipsters get away with all too often: They made a totally ineffective ad. An ad for "any beer."

Not only is there is nothing aspirational here, there's nothing here to cause anyone to choose Miller Lite.

Nothing about how it tastes. Nothing about how it's made. Nothing at all that would make anyone believe the beer is special or distinctive in any respect. With the exception of the logo at the end of the ad and the tiny images of Miller Lite cans and bottles, this ad could be promoting any brand of beer. At great cost, MillerCoors bought a generic beer ad.

It can be reasonably argued that, over the years, the creation and funding of beer ads that do not sell a particular brand, but rather all beer generically, represents the single greatest waste of money in marketing. Literally billions. "Grab some Buds" was really, "Grab some buds." Bud Light's big "whatever parties" could as easily be Coors Light parties. Or Busch Light parties. Heineken's been running generic beer ads for at least a decade now.

When clients surrender their marketing instincts and hand over the "creative vision" to ad-agency hipsters, the stage is set for generic beer advertising. Creative people are all about "the film" (and how their creative friends, awards committees, and potential next-employers see that film), and least about "the brand." To many of them, the brand's role is simply to pay for their art. It'd be hard to conjure a better example than this Miller Lite film-as-ad.

Not that long ago, we ran an article on Miller Lite's latest ad agency appointment, and noted the MillerCoors top marketing guy gushing about his new LosAngeles-based ad agency. Said he: "... it's all happening in Los Angeles right now," which, he boasted, "(is) at the intersection of all great things: creativity, design, technology, entertainment, music...."

In the most remarkable of coincidences, ordinary folks engaged in ordinary backyard pool parties drinking ordinary beer seem to live at that same "intersection of all great things." 

Whodathunk?!?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a little good luck. 

Indeed, "Better lucky than smart" could be the most apt business truth ever. Still, business leaders rarely acknowledge the role of good luck in the successes that occur on their watch. Oddly, when things go poorly, the same guys are quick to blame bad luck--everything from unseasonal weather to the price of aluminum--for what's gone wrong. 

That's why the recent short run--only one fiscal quarter's worth--of modest volume gains for Miller Lite was refreshing. Because early on, MillerCoors basically admitted the whole thing amounted to a lucky accident. 

The return to the can graphics associated with Lite's early days was originally supposed to be a brief promotion. Chances are, no senior marketing people had much, if anything, to do with it. At the time, it probably seemed no more important than deciding what shade of green should be on the St. Patrick's Day promotional shamrocks.

Then unexpectedly, this package-change captured the attention of beer drinkers, and they began choosing the brand more often. Not accustomed to success on the brand, distributors seized on this bit of good fortune, and pushed Lite harder at retail. They also pushed MillerCoors to get fully behind the idea, and soon every possible Miller Lite package and point-of-sale promotional piece wore the new-old graphic look. 

But that substantial changeover is now last year's news. The beer-selling season ahead won't see the same package-based excitement at the retail shelf. So what's being planned for this summer to sustain the volume growth?  

The early signs are pretty underwhelming.

Here's the big insight the MillerCoors marketing leaders presented to their distributor network to propel the brand this summer...

Having seen Miller Lite routinely make inexplicable judgement calls, the distributor response was probably something like this...

Why the face?

Have you ever chosen a packaged goods brand of anything to "help you be yourself?" Who thinks that way? Why would a marketer of even average intelligence believe Miller Lite--or any beer--should claim that?

This sort of over-thought, bizarrely turned "strategy" nonsense (probably conjured up by some self-styled "insight team" with next-to-no experience in the beer business) can cause brands to forfeit momentum they might otherwise have enjoyed. It's as though MBA types and their agency hangers-on can't stop themselves from creating weird constructs that defy logic and good sense. Who knows why? Perhaps they're just out to impress each other. 

Regardless, they'll need good luck trying to impress the guy on the next barstool with it.

"How 'bout a Miller Lite so you can be yourself." 

"How 'bout you go f*ck yourself?" 

Maybe the MillerCoors brand managers need to get out more often.

It's about the beer

If Miller Lite's success owes to one thing, that thing is the beer itself. The sum total of the physical properties of the beer beautifully presented back when as "Great taste. Less filling." The latest graphics-change only served to remind folks of what people liked about the beer in the first place.

In the history of the beer business, no other beer brand has suffered through more awful marketing campaigns than Miller Lite. Since its early ground-breaking effort, virtually every subsequent campaign offered only wrong-headed cleverness and faux insight. All gobbled up by desperate clients. And the brand just kept on declining. 

Now that a return to its original look has some folks finding their way back to the "great taste, less filling" brand, the Miller Lite marketing geniuses aim to keep the momentum going with... "be yourself?"

Talk about a buzz-kill.

Then again, maybe it's just bad luck.