 Apparently deciding that market-share losses violate "Man Law," Miller
Brewing Co. is shelving its "Men of the Square Table" ad campaign. The campaign, by Crispin, Porter & Bogusky, Miami, debuted last
spring with considerable buzz. The ads featured celebrities Miller and
Crispin apparently thought personified manliness, such as actor Burt
Reynolds, football star Jerome Bettis and wrestler Triple H, who would
meet in a glass cube to settle questions about manly behavior, such as
whether it's permissible to put fruit in beer. (It's not.)
Pop-culture references
The spots drew laughs, hundreds of thousands of entries to an online
"Manlawpedia," and pop-culture references (a wholly-unrelated-to-beer Chicago Tribune
story Sunday asked if it was a violation of "man law" for men to wear
scarves), but Miller Lite's sales lost ground to its rivals. Sales fell
by low-single digits last year, while rivals Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light
and Coors Brewing Co.'s Coors Light saw sales climb in the mid- and
low-single digits, respectively.
When asked, Miller executives said they believed "man laws"
would gradually seep into the popular culture and eventually boost
sales. But their patience appears to have run out.
"It's a great campaign, but the environment has changed a lot since we originally set out with it," Miller CEO Tom Long told Beer Business Daily
in an interview published this morning. "We feel like it's time to
start putting some more focus back on the reasons why Miller Lite is
simply a better beer than other competitive light beers."
Asked to elaborate on Mr. Long's comments, a Miller spokesman
said the campaign succeeded in generating "social currency, and that
was exactly what we needed at the time." He said brewer is exploring
opportunities to bring the campaign back at some point in the next 12
to 18 months.
Crispin on solid footing
The spokesman added that Crispin
remains on solid footing as Miller Lite's agency, a sentiment supported
by the brewer's recent decision to award the shop its Miller High Life
creative account in addition to the Lite work.
New spots by Crispin, debuted during Sunday's NFL playoff
games, set out to differentiate Miller Lite from its competitors by
noting its spelling ("Lite" vs. the less distinctive but not misspelled
"Light" used by A-B and Coors) as indicative of larger differences
between Miller Lite and so-called GHT beers.
The new ads, expected to air until new work from Crispin replaces them
in April, are a return to the more comparative style of advertising
Miller employed during its 2003-2004 renaissance, when it gained market
share from No. 1 brewer Anheuser-Busch by declaring superiority in
taste, carbohydrate count and other areas. A-B blunted that momentum by
slashing prices during 2005, and Miller has struggled to regain
traction since.
A Crispin spokeswoman declined to comment.
(Source: Advertisng age)
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