Advertising in the beer industry has always been prevalent.  Magazines, radio, TV – you name the venue and the breweries are there and fighting for your attention.  For the most part, in all honesty I think the ads tend to make you laugh, but not really capture your brand loyalty.  That tends to be my issue with advertising in general, but that’s a discussion for another post.

These commercials are enjoyed so much that people look forward each year to the Super Bowl not just for the game, but these ads as well.  Over the years we’ve seen the rise of brands such as the King of Beers (Bud), the President of Beers (Miller) and America’s World Class Beer – Sam Adams.  Now, what you don’t see as much are ads toward those beers you were probably more familiar with in your college days – Pabst Blue Ribbon, Natural Ice, Busch Lite and who could forget Genny Ice.

Now here is the problem – when you are perceived as a cheaper, less quality product you can’t compete as well in the market.  So what do you do?  You either have to go with it, or try to change your image.  What I’ve seen lately is a flood of ads from Miller regarding its Miller High Life product, another beer you may have joked about in your days of youthful indiscretions.  The Company has started pushing its “working man beer” spiel hard – and honestly, it may be working.  Rather than be perceived as cheap, it’s “for the hard working people” of America.  I’ve seen larger displays of this libation in the local stores, and for any baseball fans that may have noticed – Jake the Miller Delivery guy received a huge “pop” from the Cleveland crowd at Jacob Field.  

Is this another series of funny ads soon to be forgotten, or the work of the true Real men of Genius?