Miller Lite turned to an under-recognised but highly valuable demographic in internet culture and exposed a social behaviour that’s unique to it: moderators. More specially they turned to Twitch’s ‘mods’, volunteers who remove any inappropriate posts on the live chats that run alongside the streaming content of gaming influencers.

For the first time ever, these “Unsung Heroes” were put in the spotlight and recognised for the integral part they play in creating keeping the Twitch community safe. This campaign allowed Miller Lite to create an alliance with a market that had never been targeted by a big brand.

The beer industry is falling victim to changing consumer dynamics, category fragmentation and product innovation. Gen Z is turning to wine and spirits, hard seltzers and legalized marijuana. Declining sales are putting pressure on beer brands to change their messaging, not just to win new customers but also become an integral part of culture. Miller Lite wanted to cement themselves in mainstream culture by winning new customers in gaming, now no longer niche but mainstream.

To find a new, untapped, ownable position in gaming that is authentic, inclusive and original, to further establish their Miller Lite’s fandom in the gamers’ community.

To build awareness and purchase intent of Miller Lite among Twitch users aged 21 and over, build associations between Miller Lite and gaming, and between Miller Lite and the Twitch community.

To create advocacy across gaming for Miller Lite, we turned to Twitch and their moderators. On Twitch, a broadcaster streams to an audience with a live chat running alongside all streaming content that allows for real-time discussion with fans. ‘Mods’ are volunteers who remove any inappropriate posts; they are ultimate superfans who ensure a safe and positive experience for the Twitch community and who receive little public recognition.

Four of these “Unsung Heroes” were awarded a VIP trip to TwitchCon, Twitch’s annual event attended for the Twitch community, for a chance to meet up with the broadcasters and community they moderate for. We documented each moderator’s experience in a video diary that became content for Twitch Miller Lite channel. The videos were then cut down to custom commercials that ran across Twitch.

Miller Lite was the first brand to support mods, an under-recognised but highly valuable tribe within internet culture.

Millennials and Gen Zs are drinking 20% less than older generations did at their ages. Declining sales mean the beer industry needs to find innovative ways to become part of culture. Twitch as the world’s largest streaming platform for gamers, is where we found this opportunity.

The gaming audience, a group of tech-savvy millennials, often referred to as ‘unreachables’, abandoning TV in favour of more engaging entertainment outlets.

At the center of the gaming universe is Twitch, a global streaming service where the world’s top gaming talent live streams to thousands of people at a time. Twitch influencers are known for their tight-knit communities and Miller Lite saw this as an opportunity to drive advocacy and increase consideration for their brand.

We approached the moderators, not the influencers, in a bid to celebrate the

Twitch’s unsung heroes and tab into a very typical modern-day social behaviour on the internet.

Miller Lite filmed each moderator’s VIP TwitchCon experience in a video diary format and then uploaded each video diary to the Miller Lite channel page on Twitch. Each diary was promoted by the moderator and their broadcaster to drive traffic to content. The videos were then cut down to custom commercials that ran across Twitch for maximum brand impact.

The content focused on TwitchCon, Twitch’s annual event attended by more than 28,000 members of the Twitch community, and the moderators’ chance to meet up with the broadcasters and community they moderate for.

The campaign ran between 1 July and 31 December 2019. Unsung Heroes creative ran after TwitchCon ( 27-29 September 2019) till the end of the campaign.

All content ran on the Twitch website, with social promotion on the Twitch handle (and retweeted by Miller Lite).

The Unsung Heroes custom commercials on Twitch generated over 17 million impressions

The “Unsung Heroes of Twitch” succeeded in driving advocacy and consideration for Miller Lite. Twitch RPG Data proved showed that the creative generated strong lifts in awareness (+ 15.8 lift), favorability (+ 7.5) and recommendation (+7 lift). Data proved that the videos embedded Miller Lite within the gaming community, thus succeeding in getting a new market to advocate and consider the brand. “Unsung Heroes of Twitch” drove an extremely strong lift (+ 35.6) in association between gaming and Miller Lite, breaking the non-endemic brand record for gaming association on Twitch. Supporting the Twitch Moderators proved to be an outstanding angle to relate to the gaming community as 40% of those exposed to the creative agreed that this was the kind of branded content that they want to see on Twitch. Lastly, the videos highly resonated with the Twitch audience with a 90% Video Completion rate (8% higher than the benchmark).

Online moderators are a unique yet extremely important audience group in the live streaming ecosystem. On Twitch, a broadcaster streams to an audience on their channel page that has a live chat room next to all streaming content, allowing for real time interaction with the influencers and discussion within the community. Chat allows Twitch users to interact with each other and build communities, friendships, and discuss the content on streams. Moderators are the people who ensure that the live chat is up to the standards of the broadcaster by removing any posts that detracts from conversations. Moderators the ultimate superfans as they dedicate their time to ensuring a positive experience for the broadcaster and the Twitch community. Instead of aligning with big name influencers, Miller Lite became the first brand to speak up on behalf of moderators, a group who makes the Twitch ecosystem run with little recognition or fanfare.