So, how much does it really take to burn a single calorie?
That may be on your mind during Super Bowl Sunday, as most football fans -- and heck, just Americans -- eat way more than they should on the biggest football day of the year.
And Michelob Ultra, which is set to air a new spot during Sunday’s football championship is using the opportunity to take a jab at Miller Lite by reminding legal-age drinkers it has only one calorie more than Mich Ultra.
The difference, they claim, can be made up by typing characters on a keyboard. So Miller Lite is asking consumers to burn that extra calorie by typing in an 836-character URL when Michelob Ultra’s ad airs during the big game Sunday for a chance to get a six-pack of beer on the house.
If you get everything right, they'll Venmo you $8 to buy beer.
“Miller Lite wants to prove that a one-calorie difference shouldn’t be a deal-breaker. Both beers are light beers and low calorie, but why should one extra calorie matter if it means more taste?” says Zach Paciorek, associate marketing manager for Miller Lite. “There’s no better way to show drinkers how easy it is to burn a single calorie than by typing a ridiculously long URL.”
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The beer brand is making it nearly impossible for consumers to cheat, though, publishing the URL in full-page advertisements in the New York Times, in its hometown Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the newspaper in Michelob Ultra’s backyard.
Miller Lite also will publish the URL on social media, but in a form that cannot be copied and pasted.
“While ridiculous in length, we love the simplicity of it,” Paciorek says. “Type our 836-charcter URL during Ultra’s ad, burn the one extra calorie difference, and win some Miller Lite – a beer with more taste than Michelob Ultra.”
Miller Lite has historically gone head-to-head with fellow premium-light competitor Bud Light, but in recent years, as Bud Light sales have slumped, it says it has trained its sights on fast-growing Mich Ultra.
Mich Ultra has climbed the ranks of the top beer brands sold in the U.S., posting off-premise growth of about 20% in 2020, per Nielsen.