Some ad campaigns fail. Some do so quietly. Others fall to earth with a resounding thud that ripples across time and space. One such campaign was Miller Lite’s “Dick,” which not only failed, but failed so epically that it has been expunged from most memories.

In the late 90s, Miller Lite was getting trounced by Budwieser, who had stumbled upon the perfect advertising formula: frogs that croaked “Bud” Wise” and “Er.”

It was theater of the insipid, but those monosyllabic frogs not only sold truckloads of beer, but t-shirts and golf visors, too. Consumers couldn’t get enough frogs.

Sensing that beer advertising was shifting into absurdity, Miller Lite raised stakes with “Dick,” a weird campaign unleashed upon the public in January of 1997.

Understand, until this time, Miller Lite was known for celebrity “Less filling, tastes great” debates and Bob Uecker searching for his front row seat. But the kids didn’t relate to Bubba Smith and Rodney Dangerfield anymore. Generation X required something outlandish and counter-culture. You know, like Beavis & Butthead.

They needed Dick.

The premise isn’t all that absurd. The set-up was that Miller Lite gave a briefcase full of cash to an advertising legend known only as “Dick” to create the perfect Miller Lite TV spot. Turns out, “Dick” was a cheeky pseudonym for the ad agency Fallon McElligott, and the spots were directed by Devo’s Gerald Casale. The result was a heap of goofy, frightening, dreamlike scenarios that had viewers reaching not for a cold Miller Lite, but for the remote control instead.

Nobody seemed to like Dick.

But me.

Quite frankly, Dick is why I drink Miller Lite today. I had never seen anything like Dick, which didn’t seem to care about Miller Lite’s two sacred selling points: (1) Tastes Great, and (2) Less Filling. Each new Presentation By Dick filled me with awe. So irreverent! So irrelevant! It defied description! It slapped the ruddy-red cheeks of establishment! At times, Dick was jarring and unsettling, like a David Lynch movie!

As the campaign gained steam, I found myself in creative brainstorms suggesting, “Hey, let’s do something like Dick!” The conversation usually ended right there, because nobody liked Dick. Everybody liked frogs or the Wassup guys.

Miller Lite pulled the plug on Dick after two heroic years. Fallon McElligot wanted to generate water-cooler buzz about the Miller Lite brand, and it had. But too much of that buzz skewed negative or maybe just confused. Focus groups were speechless. Middle-aged beer distributors were not amused. The most egregious sin of all? After 80+ ads, sales remained flat (despite my new brand loyalty). The campaign shifted away from Dick, and back to backyard partying and slow motion pours.

There’s a lesson to be learned from Dick – maybe even several lessons. Let’s explore a few:

  1. Brands are not art-houses. As advertising creative people, we’re challenged with memorably promoting brands, not exploring our own artistic avenues.
  2. A broad target audience requires even broader ideas. Everybody likes talking frogs. Nobody is offended by talking frogs. When in doubt, go with talking frogs.
  3. People are serious about choices. Perhaps you believe beer is beer. But many people take their beer choice seriously. In fact, that choice is often an element that defines them. And if you’re not taking the choice seriously, why should the consumer?
  4. Be willing to admit defeat. Dick is comprised of more than 80 spots. Eighty! After one year, it was obvious the campaign wasn’t connecting, but Dick kept plugging away. Kenny Rogers knows when to fold’em. So should you.
  5. But never stop being bold. Dick didn’t work, but so did a million duller campaigns before it. It’s better to think huge, and then scale back. Nothing great is built on mediocrity.

Though Dick failed to revive Miller Lite, the spirit of Dick lives in some of the more absurd ad campaigns we see today. One need only become slightly uncomfortable watching a Skittles spot to understand Dick’s lasting impression. Perhaps Dick was simply ahead of his time.