Miller’s LiteGuards Protect Men From “Unmanly” Beers

All summer long, Miller Coors brought its Miller LiteGuards ad campaign to life in bars across 80 markets. From June until Aug. 31, the “LiteGuards,” Miller Lite’s trio of swimsuit-clad guardians of manliness, hit pubs and nightspots to find men making unmanly decisions, like drinking the “wrong” light beer. The campaign was designed to help teach men to “man up” and choose a beer that was good to the taste and the waist, and tied into the national commercial campaign that began in July and supported the Taste Points program where fans can register on Facebook to win prizes.

Each on-premise interaction played out differently according to the situation the ladies found in the bars. Usually, they’d find a likely looking guy drinking a competing brand and blow the whistle on him, shouting out, “man down!” Then they would try to convince him to try a Miller Lite instead. If the LiteGuards were successful, they’d reward the consumer by buying a round or handing out exclusive branded t-shirts, depending on what was allowed. The key was instant gratification and reward. And more than two million consumers got eyes on the brand, whether live or on the brand’s Facebook page, where Miller Lite collected 16,000 Taste Points members.

"We took the approach that bringing the above-the-line program to life for the consumers is where we can earn brand equity,” Barrett Green, associate brand manager at Miller Lite, told Buzz. “We have a history of this sort of approach on-premise and we did see our brand equity grow as a result of the program.” Agency: Team Enterprises, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.