Were we too rough on the lameness of Bud Light's "whatever labels?"

The Bud Light "L" stands for... what?

In a recent article, we lamented Bud Light's latest attempt to connect with the beer business' holy grail, the tech-savvy but oh-so-elusive millennials. While we avoided the word "lame," that pretty well characterizes our take on these unfunny--sometimes remarkably so--new labels, just now starting to make their way to wherever you buy your party beer.

In response, one of our readers opined that we were being too hard on Bud Light. Said she (that's not her pictured above, by the way), "It's kind of a cute attempt to put a smile on the lips of their drinkers." 

At first we thought perhaps we should take her criticism to heart. After all, it wasn't the first time "heartless" had been hurled our way. Could she have us pegged?

Maybe we're just cranky at this time of year. Maybe we'd been too snarky in our criticism. Maybe Bud Light's (very) mildly amusing labels suggesting the beer was good for moments when, for instance, you're loaded enough to be a "one-person conga line," were the best a millennial could expect from a beer label.

Or maybe not.

As if by way of an unexpected year-end gift, news of the debut of an ad campaign from the Argentinian beer brand, Andes, made its way to our inbox. A campaign focused directly on its bottle label and aiming to involve millennials. Setting aside whether the ads will sell beer, we think the campaign answers three important questions germane to the "connecting with millennials" issue:

Is there a way to really involve younger drinkers in a message on a beer label?

Is it possible to get millennials to actually participate in a beer brand's label hijinks?

Can labels be the basis for true hilarity in beer ads... and maybe in life as well?

You decide. 

(We suggest you watch full-screen so as not to miss the translations. And we apologize if there's a YouTube ad preceding the Andes commercial.)

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Clever, funny, involving, tech-grounded and unique to one beer brand. And far more likely to captivate the millennials, at least in our view.

While Bud Light plans to use one or more of its whatever-labels as the basis for its SuperBowl ads, something tells us, the Andes idea would make for far better in-game entertainment. As advertising, they may be far from perfect. But as short-term promotional messages aimed at getting the millennials' attention and involvement, there's a lot to like. 

Here's another delightful minute's worth...

Message on a bottle?

For Bud Light, that message is: "Missed it by a millennial mile."

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