The Super Bowl is the most important day for beer in the United States.

Americans spend $1.3B stocking up on beer for the game, downing 325M gallons of the stuff on Super Bowl Sunday.

Miller Lite needed that scale. Because while all light beer dropped 3.5% in 2021, the brand had lost 0.5% in share. A win in Super Bowl ’22 could stop the bleeding.

But AB-InBev had other plans.

AB-InBev is the planet’s biggest beer conglomerate. They blocked us from advertising in the game—then spent $49.6M in media hawking their beers.

With a budget just 3%of what AB-InBev spent in media on a single ad, Miller Lite had to:

- Generate 500MM+ earned impressions

- Drive sales the week of the Super Bowl

- Steal market share from AB-InBev

Miller Lite needed a new way to Super Bowl.

Miller Lite planned to bait the press and outwit “big beer” by doing something ridiculous: airing a Super Bowl spot in the Metaverse.

And then we decided to build an entire virtual bar just to host said ad. Naturally.

We partnered with Decentraland to buy virtual land and custom-build The Meta Lite Bar.

The Meta Lite Bar was a perfect representation of our brand: a divey spot where you’d want to hang with friends, complete with everything from darts to photobooths. You could almost feel the sticky floors and wobbly tables.

Its design was the complete opposite of what you’d expect from the Metaverse—slick, futuristic—and a perfect translation of the brand into this new frontier.

When complete, Miller Lite was ready for its first virtual patrons.

People knew what to expect from a Super Bowl ad.

So much so they made bingo cards predicting the tropes they’d see. And took bets on what celebrities would make a cameo.

Big beer’s :30 TV ads were stale. Miller Lite could break through their clutter with something novel, engaging, and never-before-seen. Something like the Metaverse.

But who on earth would be in the Metaverse on Super Bowl Sunday?! No one. It’s the last event people still watch live on TV.

It would make zero sense for Miller Lite—or any brand—to activate there during the game.

Which was the perfect reason to do just that. It was absurd—and bound to surprise in ways big beer hadn’t for years.

Big beer’s :30 Super Bowl ads were stale. Miller Lite could break through their clutter with something new. Something like the Metaverse.

But no one would be in the Metaverse on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s the last event people watch live.

So Miller Lite planned to bait the press and outwit “big beer” by doing something absurd: airing a Super Bowl spot in the Metaverse.

- Miller Lite partnered with Decentraland to build The Meta Lite Bar to host the spot.

- We opened a week before the game, complete with a bouncer checking virtual IDs.

- Inside patrons could chat, explore, and engage with one of 17 interactive features.

- To incentivize engagement, completing activities unlocked branded NFTs.

On Super Bowl Sunday, the TVs in The Meta Lite Bar turned to one thing: our “Big Game Ad,” repeating on a loop.

The Meta Lite Bar was virtual, but its results were real:

- Miller Lite earned 1.4 billion impressions, was written up in The New York Times and roasted by Colbert.

- The experience boosted brand affinity (+18.7 pts) and consideration (+31.3 pts) among those 21-49. As one article put it, “This isn’t your grandpa’s beer commercial.”

- Miller Lite stole +0.57 pt of market share.

Beyond business, The Meta Lite Bar was a bonafide Metaverse success:

- It was the most attended branded event in Decentraland history, so popular it crashed their server.

- The bar entertained guests for 20 minutes each; 10x benchmark and 60x competitors’ TV spots.

- In total, visitors spent 154 days in our experience!

And we loved that ¼ of our NFT redemptions came from first-time redeemers. Meaning Miller Lite welcomed new folks to the Metaverse.

We sure set the bar high.