The Superbowl is a major beer-buying “holiday”.

It’s also literally owned (sponsored) by a major competitor- Budweiser. Many people watch the game just for the commercials. And although the ads featured on it are some of the most watched in the country, they run too late to influence consumers’ beer-buying decisions. Also, the current going rate for a 30 second spot on the Superbowl was $3 million.

Miller High Life is a value beer. Spending a fortune on 30 seconds and passing the cost on to consumers is against its brand character. The brand wanted a way to capitalize on the popularity of the Superbowl yet still sell beer before the game.

By announcing that it was going to run a one second ad on the big game, Miller High Life was able ride the wave of pre-game hype and reap hundreds of seconds of media exposure. The brand garnered plenty of buzz and a healthy boost in pre-game sales.

Rather than buying the full thirty seconds, Miller High Life bought just one second for a fraction of the cost of the traditional buy. The frugality of a buy helped to strengthen the brand's stance while the short, to-the-point message reinforced the beer's no-nonsense image.

The results were phenomenal.• 1 second ads had over 1million YouTube views; the average time spent on 1secondad.com was 1:20.

• There were 291 Local/National TV news features, 380 online articles, blogs, newspaper articles and 77 radio program features.• 37, 000 visits to Miller High Life Extras Loyalty Program and of those visits 5,500 joined the program.

• The pre-game hype resulted in an 8.6% sale jump (approximately 2.5 million bottles) and the growth has continued.