The story of Miller Lite being the first company to enter the Lite Beer market in 1973, greatly emphasizes the importance of a brand’s consumer perception. The competitive advantage Miller sustained due to its “Great taste, Less filling!” campaign was that the advertisers at Miller light were working hard to alter the perception that light beer was not as “manly” as regular beer. In order to counteract this negative perception of the brand, Miller introduced a series of commercials featuring retired professional athletes, quintessential “men”, that endorsed the beer. When beer drinker’s nation wide saw respected sports icons like Joe Frazier, George Steinbrenner and Bob Uecker drinking the light beer, it completely eliminated the stigma associated with the drink.

As the marketplace has now become such a vast smorgasbord of very similar products, I would argue that it is more important that consumer’s differentiate their product from others, than actually having “the best product”. Meaning that more emphasis should be placed on marketing strategies that differentiate yourself from the competition. By promoting a memorable stance, as Miller did so well, you are essentially promoting loyalty to your brand and finding yourself a nice parking spot inside the mind of the consumer.

Photo: Classic Kicks