Miller Lite is the USA’s 3rd largest beer brand selling over 13 million barrels a year. The brand was the first light beer, inventing the light beer category. But with sales in 5% YOY decline, from a combination of increased competition from craft beers and a decline of the category as a whole, MillerCoors briefed us to radically redesign the brand to attract new drinkers.

We looked to the history of the brand to inspire our solution. The existing packaging didn’t relate to the original promise of ‘great tasting beer with half the calories.’ Our core idea of the redesign was to remind consumers that Miller Lite was the original light pilsner, an iconic American product with strong brewing credentials and an innovator in the beer market.

We redesigned the original 1970’s Miller Lite packaging in a modern way by introducing new elements that would allow us to build a brand for the 21st century in all media.

The redesigned original Miller Lite 1974 heritage can formed the basis of a rich and layered visual identity system that spans packaging design, tap handles, glassware, special editions, promotional packaging, digital and more.

The identity embraces redesigned Germanic typography and beer crest that elevates originality and the high quality ingredients, whilst also building a new set of equities including our iconic wallpaper, typography and monogram to add depth to the visual identity.

Those key visual equities are modified to create packaging for NASCAR, baseball and ice hockey promotions keeping them looking cohesive with the identity but different enough to gain interest and impact.

The new visual identity has reminded consumers that Miller Lite is a beer with brewing credentials and has achieved massive commercial success increasing sales by 9.25%, exceeding all expectations.