Crap Beer, Great Positioning. Miller High Life “The Champagne of Beers”

I don’t think I would be alone in saying that American mass market beers are crap.

As an Australian, where we drink more beer per capita than any other country, I should know. And no Fosters is not “Australian for Beer”.

Fortunately, in the last few months I spent living in Oregon I was able to find some great microbreweries, stopping me from getting back on a plane down under as soon as I could.

But one day I was sitting at a bar checking out the drinks menu, when I noticed something strange.

Right under Dom Perignon there was a beer in the sparkling wine section – Miller High Life.

Why? Because it is the “Champagne of Beers” of course!

Miller High Life on the Sparkling Wine List

I asked the barman if this was a joke, and it wasn’t. Americans aren’t big on sarcasm.

Apparently, Miller High Life has been using the “Champagne of Beers” tagline since the 50s. (Note the women drinking beer in this ad, a clear strategy for expanding the market)

So I decided to try this “Champagne of Beers”.

To Miller’s credit the tapered neck bottle did kind of look Champagne like. And it did have a high level of carbonation, kind of like Champagne.

Miller High Life Bottle

But in the end it didn’t really taste like Champagne. Or beer for that matter.

This was just a case of brilliant positioning that got me to try the product.

So cheers to the marketing team at Miller for a job well done!

Now all you need to do is fire the product team….