What’s Old is New: Miller Lite Goes Back to the Future With Re-Rebrand

Miller Lite, once America’s most popular lite beer, is going back to the future. Miller has redesigned – or rather recycled – its can design from the mid-70s in an effort to attract Millennial drinkers (ages 21-30) who prefer a “vintage” feel in their products of choice. The meteoric rise in sales of what was mostly a forgotten artifact beer – Pabst Blue Ribbon – amongst the hipster set proved a hypothesis that image has as much to do with taste as well, taste. In fact, Miller conducted taste tests with its new/old can, and found that people actually thought the beer tasted better than the “old” Miller Lite. The beer’s recipe, it should be noted, has not changed.

The can first launched as a part of a promotion with the movie Anchorman 2, set in 1979. Reception was so positive that Miller made the can permanent. Though the company remains behind Bud Light and Coors Light in light beer sales, the results have shown promise.

With the recent surge of craft and microbrew beer carving out a significant portion of the beer market, the large-scale, traditional breweries, like Miller and Budweiser, have had to get creative with new products and brands to stay relevant. Miller Lite’s re-brand is a great example of this. The new can design won’t make Miller into a microbrew, but it can create the kind of nostalgia that masks what many Millennials view as a mass-produced, “corporate” brand.

Miller’s marketing history, dating back to 1973, is an interesting study in in the life of a brand. Selling essentially the same product for 40 years, Miller has sold their beer in a variety of different ways using a variety of techniques. In the following article, Ian Crouch of the New Yorker takes a look at Miller’s past, present – and past again: http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/miller-tyme.

Rebranding by Jacob Tyler in San Diego

Rebranding NASA

In the following article, Fast Company contributor Susan Karlin details NASA’s rebirth by rebranding. Just a few short years ago; America’s space program seemed in tatters. In 2011, NASA was preparing for the final flight of its Space Shuttle program to little fanfare. Despite 30 years of incredible advancements in space exploration, public interest had waned. Perhaps because the shuttle itself, once a futuristic-looking space vehicle, hadn’t changed its exterior design in 30 years and now looked less modern than every car on the roads of America. Perhaps because the Shuttle missions had become – as far as the general public was concerned – little more than a shipping operation for the International Space Station.

As NASA’s funding dwindled, new competition from the private sector – including companies like Space-X – began to command more attention. After 30 years and five Space Shuttles (two of which, Challenger and Columbia, ended in tragedy) NASA seemed like yesterday’s news. Of course, the folks at NASA weren’t sitting around in an empty warehouse, wondering what to do next. A decades-in-the-making plan to eventually send a manned space flight to Mars was taking shape, and soon, the public would start to take interest in the famed agency once again. But it wasn’t just the mission to Mars or the recent landing of a probe on an asteroid that piqued the public’s interest. NASA conducted a conscious rebranding of itself, utilizing emerging media technology – including a robust social media campaign – to connect people to the adventure of space exploration in a way never seen before.

Astronauts tweet from the International Space Station. NASA scientists sit on panels at San Diego’s own Comic-Con. The agency has even redesigned their mission control room to look more futuristic and “Sci-Fi.” NASA’s rebranding is an amazing success story, and you can read about it in-depth in Karlin’s fantastic article here.