With Miller’s sales strong throughout the spring, it was important to maintain momentum during the key summer months. Our goal was to identify an engaging TV opportunity the brand could own, ensuring they pre-empted the onset of a major competitor’s summer TV sponsorship with something exciting and fresh.

Miller Lite sales climbed +16.1% by week five. The online extension reached 72 million viewers with a 20% higher video play completion rate than the other Shorts advertiser. Miller was successful in reaching the highly coveted young male beer drinker two weeks before the competition’s sponsorship on ESPN.

Miller became the exclusive beer partner for ESPN Shorts, the first ever in-programme short film franchise. The brand was brought to life with an engaging, progressive short film that aired episodically in-programme as a part of ESPN’s SportsCenter. The storyline embraced Miller’s brand traits, organically seeding them within the characters and the plot line. Extensions were created in non-traditional television arenas such as online & broadband, creating a rich environment of discovery for the young male consumer.

Our target is most involved in two areas of exposure – sports, TV and the Internet. Because these environments are so cluttered, the only way to reach the target was to move out of ad space and into branded content. We focused on those arenas to ensure exposure and engagement at critical contact points. The in-programme use of four short, episodic in-programme films created interest, while web crossover provided character descriptions and exclusive, never-before-seen film out-takes.

Tired of being inundated with :30 commercials, Miller’s young adult male target is tuning out “hard sell” tactics, dodging typical advertising but seeking out true entertainment. They are desperate to find authenticity in marketing and will not respond to messaging that seems counter to a brand’s proper image. The world of television among young men is expanding beyond its traditional box and they are discovering new ways to consume video content. Our strategy was to integrate messaging in ways that would engage, as well as provide exposure to, Miller’s target.