Miller Time on the Town
IT STARTED AS A PARTY AND ENDED AS A TV CAMPAIGN
Miller Brewing Co. last month wrapped up an innovative on-premise/on-air campaign that let bar-goers audition to be “spokesdrinkers” for Miller Lite.
The Miller Lite Lens sent camera crews to bars in 17 markets, inviting patrons to audition by talking on-camera about themselves, and how they spend their free time. Three folks won a night on the town with their friends, accompanied by two directors and a camera crew. That “finale” and footage from bar auditions ran as TV spots July through November. Schupp Co., St. Louis, handled the hybrid campaign.
Cameras have great on-premise impact, says Schupp account executive Kim Jenne. “The camera has a bright light that draws lots of attention, and they were usually rolling when they entered the bar,” she says. “There’s this natural high people get from performing for their friends in front of a camera.”
About 2,500 people auditioned over five weeks. The Miller Lite team and Schupp staffers culled that to finalists, who were invited for a callback with their friends. That let Miller vet the group that would appear in its spots, to make sure it represented Miller’s 21- to 27-year-old target audience. Miller picked two English-speaking and one Spanish-speaking “spokesdrinkers.” New York City directing team The Good Guys tagged along on each group’s night out to shape the final TV spots, which aired on ESPN through November.
State restrictions prohibited Miller from pre-announcing crew visits, so most patrons were surprised when the camera showed up. (Radio-station partners in some markets hyped the campaign, urging listeners to watch for crews.)
The four-man crews had one emcee to facilitate auditions; one staffer to work the crowd and handle release forms; and two recording technicians. Auditions weren’t scripted or even heavily branded; “we just wanted to capture the idea of Miller Time,” Jenne explains. Some bar patrons “really believed this was their big break,” she adds: “A lot of consumers did tricks, or dance moves — we saw it all.”
The three winners threw big debut parties when their ads broke. “Now that they’re superstars,” Jenne laughs.
