Dive Brief:

• Miller Lite announced its "Farewell Work Holiday Parties" campaign, which will include national TV commercials and social and digital elements, per a release. The campaign comes as the coronavirus pandemic upends the holiday tradition for most companies.
• The Molson Coors brand commissioned artist Alex Prager to memorialize such parties' cringiest moments with hyperrealistic sculptures. The figures will be featured in an art installation outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which will be open and free to the public from Nov. 21 through Jan. 3. The sculptures will also be featured in a virtual installation on the museum's website.
• Citing research indicating more than half of full-time office employees won't be sad that traditional work holiday parties won't occur this year, Miller Lite is promoting the idea that less time at a professional gathering means spending more time with friends, albeit virtually.

Dive Insight:

In a year full of disappointments, Miller Lite finds a bright side: the end of the in-person workplace office party. Without that obligation, consumers can spend more time celebrating — and drinking Miller Lite — with the people they choose.

"Not having to make awkward small talk or being forced to take photobooth pictures with coworkers is a holiday gift in and of itself," Courtney Carter Dugan, director of activation for Miller Lite, said in the release.

A video for the campaign features Prager's lifelike statues in awkward holiday poses, such as photocopying one's bare bottom, against a melancholy soundtrack. Prager said the idea of illustrating office party behavior touches on many of her work's themes, such as the line between artifice and reality, and how people connect through both raw emotion and performance.

Miller Lite parent Molson Coors has been particularly aggressive with its marketing during the pandemic. Since March, the company has launched more than 30 campaigns, most of which had not been conceived before the health crisis started. The pandemic disrupted a Coors Light campaign scheduled to run during the since-canceled NCAA Basketball Tournament.

The brand was fortunate to have drawn up a five-point marketing playbook that centered on staying active rather than sitting still when faced with new challenges, Molson Coors Chief Marketing Officer Michelle St. Jacques explained during a virtual presentation earlier this year. The five tenets that make up the guide include: commit to action, do something, find trusted partners to work with, keep moving and double down on creativity.