Miller Lite launched in 1975 with what is now one of the most famous American Beer campaigns: Great Taste vs. Less Filling. It ran from 1975 to 1990. The campaign introduced American drinkers to the light beer category and became one of the most well-known taglines of all time. In 2024, Miller Lite wanted to bring back the iconic campaign to attract a new generation that’s nostalgic for classic American brands.

To bring back such an iconic campaign from the 70s, we didn’t want to just trigger nostalgia. We wanted our campaign to recreate the experience of watching the commercials that someone would’ve had in the 70s. So we made “The Miller Lite BeerTape.” The Miller Lite BeerTape was an ad campaign launched entirely on VHS, in the year 2024.

Today, people are actively pushing against big tech. They crave authentic experiences

and real connections. So, in a world where AI is on the tip of everyone’s tongue, we did the

complete opposite. We signaled to our audience that we get them by going analog and putting

our content on VHS. We used online mediums to push people offline, and encouraged drinkers to dust off their VCR players and engage with us in the real world.

The campaign launched in March of 2024. To get a tape, people could prove they had a VCR on social or travel all the way to “The Last Blockbuster” in Bend, Oregon.

We called “The BeerTape” a double feature that doubles as a beer. A double box contained a VHS with our commercial on it. We also included a custom beer glass shaped like a VHS. This allowed people to watch our commercial while drinking our beer. The content for the tape was filmed on VHS, as well.

When people watched, they saw what was probably the very first QR code ever recorded on a VHS tape. When they scanned the QR code, they were entered for a chance to win free beer money, no matter which side of the debate they chose.

120 BeerTapes were manufactured.

Within 48 hours of the campaign launch, Miller Lite amassed over 3 billion earned impressions and introduced a new generation of consumers to the classic campaign.

The 600+ earned media placements across online publications, social, broadcast TV and radio generated $75,000,000 in free media for the brand.

Across social media, Miller Lite generated tens of thousands of engagements on social posts related to the campaign with an 88% positive sentiment rating.

Perhaps most significantly, the campaign persuaded people to engage with the brand in real life. At Blockbuster, each “Miller Lite BeerTape” was given away in less than one hour – allowing people to possess a piece of the past and fulfill their nostalgic desires. Some even traveled thousands of miles for their very own copy.