Miller - Urban Heartbeat

Sound waves were used to create Distinctive Brand Assets in beer visuals, giving Miller Genuine Draft a unique look across its global markets.

Beer looks like beer. In advertising, beer images often look the same. Our challenge was to visually set Miller apart from its competitors while expressing Miller’s brand values.

Miller is consumed by young people at bars, clubs, and parties. Studies have shown that low-end bass vibrations in music make people want to dance more. This fun discovery served as inspiration for the creative idea to use actual music and sound to help design the beer images.

Research & development took place using massive speakers, tone generators and music production tools. We made sound waves create mesmerising patterns in the beer. Complex calculations were performed to associate vibrations, frequencies, and camera speeds of up to 1000 frames per second to match the tempo of the soundtrack. We also made the beer bottles dance to the music, by feeding a kick drum pattern to speakers mounted below the surface our beers stand on.

Miller had an existing brand asset called ‘The Beacon’: a ray of sunlight thought the beer that signals ‘Miller Time’. We upgraded the Beacon by replacing the old post-production-based Beacon with one that is generated organically, using bespoke camera filters.

By making liquids and bottles dance, we gave Miller a recognisable identity that allows the target audience to identify and resonate (pun intended) with the brand around the world. The assets were implemented in Miller’s refreshed brand DNA – it’s what makes Miller look different from all its competitors. The new assets were implemented in two global campaign and used in all 18 markets.