Miller Lite... didactic.
"Joyless" hardly seems like a worthy goal for advertising in general, but for a social beverage like beer, it's particularly odd.
When you take a good look at the current body of advertising from the likes of Budweiser, Bud Light and Coors Light, three of the largest beer brands, there's a common element that's hard to miss. It's there in the dimly lit quality of the film (the ad people prefer to call it "gritty"). Its's there in the dramatic tilt toward "work," in the old work-reward model of beer advertising. It's there, too, in Miller Lite's didactic ads of late that seem like a bad high-school class lesson. Most of all--and certainly related--it's there in the overall void of happiness, lightness, and celebration.
Today's beer ads seem intent on focusing on anything but... joy.
When you take a good look at the current body of advertising from the likes of Budweiser, Bud Light and Coors Light, three of the largest beer brands, there's a common element that's hard to miss. It's there in the dimly lit quality of the film (the ad people prefer to call it "gritty"). Its's there in the dramatic tilt toward "work," in the old work-reward model of beer advertising. It's there, too, in Miller Lite's didactic ads of late that seem like a bad high-school class lesson. Most of all--and certainly related--it's there in the overall void of happiness, lightness, and celebration.
Today's beer ads seem intent on focusing on anything but... joy.
Budweiser, Bud Light and Coors Light... joyless.
It used to be hard to find a beer ad WITHOUT joy!
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When was the last time you laughed out loud--or even smiled--at a beer ad? When was the last time you hummed a beer jingle? Heck, when was the last time you heard a beer jingle?
Here are just a few examples from the beer-advertising vaults. They include the light, oddball humor of the Coors Light Channel from the 90s; the legendary "front row" jocularity of Bob Uecker for Miller Lite; one of what must be more than a hundred Bud Light ads from the days when that brand's growth was the envy of the industry; and a Budweiser jingle featuring lyrics still well known more than forty years later. Watch them all, and feel the joy! Of course, the millennials making their version of beer ads nowadays will tell you old beer ads were just gimmicks that are no longer relevant. They're so sure of this, they've managed to persuade their beer clients to buy "gritty" over joy. Not every client, however, was so easily duped. |
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Could a loss of institutional memory explain all the dark ads?
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The importance of registering joy in ads hoping to sell beer has not been lost on the Constellation Brands folks. They market three of today's hottest brands. And while none of their ads are copycat throwbacks to the styles from decades past, each brand--Corona, Pacifico, and Modelo--registers joy and associates it with the brand.
This may be no accident. Unlike the leadership of the competition's marketing departments, the top marketer at Constellation is "a beer guy," a veteran. He labored at Coors for many years, and has now been at the helm for the Mexican brands' marketing for well over a decade. He grew up when every beer ad was joyful. Is it possible, then, that while BigBeer accidentally lost, or intentionally discarded this joyful institutional learning as "out of date," somehow it still resides at, and powers Constellation's marketing? If so, it might be one element--there are certainly others--that could explain the brewer's "hot hand." Talk about joy! |
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