Episode 85 - Miller Lite Ad Reviewed by Novartis, DXN Consulting and Campbell Soup Company
“It’s just like reality, but with worse graphics”… How does this sell the metaverse for you? In the latest episode of Advertisers Watching Ads, we discuss the parody ad from Miller Lite, chosen by our partners Contagious.
The fun clip has it all, from talking horses to running avocados. Does it come across as too clever, not professional enough, or just the right amount of funny and timely?
How does this Decentraland experience created by DDB Chicago and DDB San Francisco fare with our guests, Livia Dixon (Founder of DXN Consulting and Director, Digital Strategy at Novartis), Mike Gold (Sales and Marketing Procurement Manager at Campbell Soup Company) and Samantha Reader (marketing consultant and previous Marketing Director for Northern Europe at Diageo)?
Watch the latest episode to find out.
Transcript
The following transcript is automatically generated so may not be 100% accurate, but will give you a good idea of what was discussed.
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton, and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads and discuss what's good and bad about them.
So we are joined with some very special guests this week, but before we meet those guys, I'd just like to say thanks to our partners, Contagious, who helped choose the ad this week and every week. So thanks, guys. Keep the great ads coming. So before we see this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Livia Dixon 0:33
I'm Liv. I am founder of DXN Consulting and I'm also a Digital Strategist at Novartis.
Mike Gold 0:39
Hi, I'm Mike Gold. I'm the Sales and Marketing Procurement Manager at Campbell Soup Company.
Samantha Reader 0:44
Hi, I'm Samantha Reader. I'm currently a self-employed marketing consultant, but I previously worked for Diageo for 20 years. My last role with Diageo was Marketing Director for Northern Europe.
Tom Ollerton 0:56
What a fantastic panel. Right, let's see this week's ad.
All right, Samantha, what was your reaction to this when you saw it?
Samantha Reader 1:55
I get the fact that it's a parody and I get that they are using certain symbols in an adult way. But I had a fundamental problem with it in terms of just guidelines for advertising, for alcohol. So having your cartoon horse that drinks beer, having a robot that is, you know, obviously the sort of character that could appear in a children's program. I mean, even using a format in animation that is usually associated with something that appeals to younger consumers. It all sort of raised quite a few red flags to me from a sort of regulatory perspective and in terms of just being really careful about essentially social responsibility.
Mike Gold 2:41
I thought it was slick in the sense that the metaverse is sort of a hot topic now. Everyone's talking about that, and it does seem like, OK, you talk... You're Miller Lite and you're talking about the metaverse and all of the things that are going on with the metaverse in terms of NFT aren't really your target audience. Those people are part of the push to premiumization within the alcohol industry. And this stays by, sort of, making that spoof and sort of talking about it in an ideal community like, look how ridiculous all of this is, but we're doing it for publicity and we're in, yes, we could do it in real life because we've seen commercials in the Super Bowl that have had all sorts of CGI effects in Hollywood quality graphics, yet they're doing this in a place that it doesn't look quite as professional in that respect. I completely agree that there's, you know, there's some red flags, but I think that the Super Bowl is one of those things where if your kids are watching it, they're probably watching it with adults. So obviously, it's a teachable moment and opportunity to divorce all of the symbolism and things you see that are cartoon oriented from what you know your children are involved in. I mean, look, we watch things like South Park and Family Guy all the time. They're cartoons, but they're clearly for adults. So...
Livia Dixon 3:50
I think what they've done is, you know, the way that they've done it, the fact that there was no way they could ever get a TV spot at the Super Bowl because of the other brand deals. I've really liked the way that they did this because it was really clever. It was a way to grab the audience's attention and really compete with their competitors, you know, running the Super Bowl ads. But I do agree, you know, there are certain things in it where you could question, Is it right? Does that fit in with the brand guidelines? Is it the message that they want to be portraying? And it's definitely got the PR attention and it's definitely got those ears perked. But has it got people's attention in the right way? I think that's probably going to be the bigger question here. So a lot of people have written about it, so it's got reports in Ad Age, The Drum, Ad Week, I think. So there's lots of different media articles on the internet talking about how this was a thing that they're doing, and they built up a big sort of PR campaign before the ad actually went live. And I think that's generated a lot of interest as well. They're actually saying that with the the metaverse company, which is Decentraland, it's actually turned out to be the best performing campaign they've had to date since they started. But of course, from a brand perspective with Miller Lite, it's just, is it the right attention that they want to be getting right now?
Mike Gold 5:15
The one thing I would call out from a brand perspective is that they, the commercial itself, probably very well went after the people that Miller Lite wants to target, right? Like the whole thing about, why is the horse drinking, drinking beer? And they said, "America." You know, this is very, it's a very play on sort of like the, the working class American, that sort of Miller Lite wants to go after. And they're that group of people is less concerned about a lot of the things around, you know, "Oh, is this going to be offensive to children?" They're more of the, "No." Like, you know... Yeah, make fun of all the nonsense that goes on here. And that's why the spoof is explain that to someone that's a farmer, right? A very rural working class American that doesn't get all of this Decentraland, this, you know, NFT nonsense that's going on. They just want to have a good time and drink their beer. So I think that in that way, that's what made it slick is that they figured out a way to play that dichotomy. They got press and things that people that they're targeting would never read.
Samantha Reader 6:15
So using the metaverse as a means is clever. Using this spoof is clever. Sort of parodying all of what other ad companies do during Super Bowl is clever and makes sense and is in line with all of the brand's strategy. I just don't think they needed to veer into areas that potentially, you know, there's a big responsibility being an alcohol producer to not use... And by the way, there are also laws in different countries around what you are and aren't allowed to do. Now it's digitally harder to probably enforce. You know, puppies and horses. It just, it could be misconstrued as using symbols that do appeal to people who are under the legal drinking age, and I don't think it was necessary to make this ad work. I think the idea was sufficiently interesting, different, strong. I mean, whether it's right for their target consumer, whether it's more of a marketing rather than a consumer play in terms of cleverness, I think probably, open to, to some debate. But I don't think they needed to go that far. It would be my sort of, sort of stance and there is a responsibility, that's all there is to it. If you're in that industry, there's a responsibility that everyone has.
Livia Dixon 7:33
I think in terms of like benchmarking and how it performs, I would say I personally see it more as a PR stunt at the moment but because no one else has really done this. We can't really see how it's performed against anyone else because it is kind of the first of what could be a future of advertising, really.
Tom Ollerton 7:51
Well, unfortunately, we have run out of time for this recording. So what are you guys to do now is to vote. So on the count of three... One, two, three.
Samantha Reader 8:03
I'm doing zero because I think it's... As an ad, and it would be four. But in terms of appropriateness, I'm going to have to give it a zero just because I don't think they should. So I'm sorry.
Mike Gold 8:18
I didn't give it a five for that very reason, right? I do agree in some part that, yes, there's a responsibility for alcohol company. So for that, I would say it's not five because they told the line a little too much. But it was, it was good. It was, it was good in doing what it, what it tried to do.
Tom Ollerton 8:35
Liv, Mike, Samantha... Thank you so much for joining us today. We'll see you all next week.
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