Buzz, Light Beer

Happy summer, readers. We here at Drink Moxie are thrilled about the season because it's the perfect time to crack open a cold one. A cold Moxie, perhaps? Well yes, but occasionally something more potent is in order.

The Drink Moxie staff has a hard time saying no to a frosty brew, and Americans in general are no different. As I'm sure many of you know, despite the current tough economic times, beer sales are going strong. Not alcohol sales, mind you. Just beer. We don't seem to enjoy getting drunk on anything else.

Unfortunately, we tend to be a little out of touch with mainstream America when it comes to the type of beers we drink. We like the fancy stuff. Not talking about the so-called "superpremium" brands of Michelob and Rolling Rock mentioned in the above article. We're talking about imports, microbrews, Belgian-styles. Stuff that comes in a curvy glass with a stem. But in America, most people drink the big three. That would be Bud, Miller and Coors, right? Well, kind-of. Apparently here in the land of Big Cars, Big Houses, and Big People, we prefer the light variety of beers. It's probably the only "light" thing that we prefer. About half of beer sold in the US is light, and Bud Light, Miller Lite and Coors Light combined account for about 60% of light beer sales.

So what makes these three so popular with the American drunken public? It could have something to do with the advertising, but it's probably more about the quality of the product. Just kidding. Let's take a look at what their ad agencies are doing.

Miller Lite

We start with the first, the granddaddy of the mass-marketed light beers. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Miller Lite had it all. A best-selling product. A star-studded advertising campaign. A phonetic, easy-to-spell brand name. Not to mention one of the most brilliant and enduring taglines in advertising history: "Tastes Great, Less Filling" (thanks to McCann-Erickson). This was so ingrained into the popular culture that it took on a life of its own. One of my most vivid memories as a child is going down to the minor league ballpark and joining in as one half of the grandstand would shout "Tastes great!" and my responsibility was to join in the retort, "Less filling!" Aw, now I'm getting nostalgic. Let's take a look.



The campaign has changed many times over the years, but nothing as noteworthy has evolved, with the unfortunate exception of "Man Laws." They don't seem to be able to match the elegance and simplicity of the original. Just over the past two years, Miller has used Crispin Porter and Bogusky, replaced them with Bartle Bogle Hegarty, and replaced them in turn with DraftFCB out of Chicago. I'm not sure who's responsible for what's running now, but it seems like they're making a return to the "tastes great" approach (indeed, the commercial I just saw plays with the tagline, "Taste Greatness"). Moreover, since today's beer consumer is presumably more discerning, it's not sufficient just to say it tastes great. The audience seems to deserve a more elaborate explanation. Here's one approach.



Hm, I never thought about how "can taste" was affecting my beer, but now that I know, I'm glad the problem's been fixed. So our beer is no longer aluminum-contaminated, which is nice, but what about the beer itself? What makes it taste so, well, great? Here's a medley of more recent commercials, feel free to not watch all of them.



Ah, of course, it's the triple-hops brewing process. Hops, as beer connoisseurs know, is the fragrant plant that gives all beer its distinctive flavor. Odd that it took so long for brewers to figure out that if beer tastes good because of hops, then beer will taste great if you "hop" it three times. A cupcake tastes better with three layers of icing, doesn't it? Good thing the master brewers at Miller are on top of things.

Will this more sophisticated, dare I say intellectual approach put Miller Lite back on top of the light beer game? Where's the competition?

Coors Light

Now we look to the kid brother, which (as it is owned by the same company as Miller) is also managed by DraftFCB. Its ad history is less memorable to me, I vaguely remember times when Pete Coors explained where the water comes from and, of course, the embarrassing cultural phenomenon of "... and twins." What are they up to now?



This "cold-activated" idea seems to really have legs, since they recently introduced a cold-activated can as well. It's all part of Coors Light's guarantee that they have the coldest beer on the market, as they like to say, "Cold as the Rockies."

Now, people who are into "thinking" might wonder, doesn't the coldness of the beer really have nothing to do with the beer itself, but rather the medium within which the beer is stored? I'm no scientist, but I would have to imagine that if I put a Coors Light in the microwave and turned it on for three minutes, it would not be the "world's coldest beer." But oh, right, then the label wouldn't turn blue, and I would know not to drink it. Dodged a bullet there.

Perhaps I'm being glib, but as the linked article shows, the approach seems to be working as little Coors is starting to catch up to big brother Miller. It's as if the American consumer is saying, "screw taste, I just want my beer cold." That's all we ask for. Or is it? Could we possibly ask for less?

Bud Light

We now turn to the king, Bud Light, the top selling beer in America. Their campaign over the years has produced some funny stuff, up to and including its recent Emmy-winning "Swear Jar" spot. But overall it's been pretty generic, including the rather derivative and wordy slogan "Won't fill you up and never lets you down." The campaign they are currently running was started by RSCG out of Chicago, but was recently taken over by our friends at DDB. Let's take a gander.



If being generic is what has put Bud Light at the top, I don't see how this campaign could possibly fail. It takes the idea of "lowest common denominator" and somehow brings it a notch lower. Does it taste good? Nope. Is it cold? Well, not necessarily. But it's drinkable. They are literally telling us that we should drink it because it is technically possible to do so. There's really not much else to say.

So the choice is yours, readers. How do you like your light beer? Tasty? Cold? Or just drinkable? Because you can't have all three. Of course, these three brands are really just reinforcing what most of us know about light beer, which is that it's weak, and it will get you buzzed. The creative team's job is to take that message and re-brand it, which they've successfully been able to do, from "Tastes Great, Less Filling" to "Drinkability," because we Americans just can't seem to get enough of the stuff, even when we can't afford anything else.

And now, you can get it with the taste of lime! But that's a discussion for another time.