Unexpected: Miller Lite is best enjoyed with your close friends. But people opt for fancy cocktails and wine during the holidays. Not light beer. So, when the pandemic cancelled work holiday parties everywhere, Miller Lite and DDB Chicago found a way to make themselves relevant during the holidays by reminding people that no work holiday parties meant more time to drink beer with their real friends.

The brand partnered with world-renowned artist Alex Prager to create a memorial to the work holiday part. Talent was scanned using 3D photogrammetry, then sculpted into hyper-realistic statues with skunk, mink, glass eyes, and real human hair.

The artwork got the attention of the Curators at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the largest modern art museum on the West Coast. They decided to feature the artwork as a holiday exhibition, everything included: limited-edition prints of the piece sold online for $5,000, A book featuring detailed back stories was sold in the museum gift-shop, and a virtual experience 
on LACMA.org let anyone explore the piece.

The exhibition quickly became LACMA’s most attended public installation of the last few years, outpacing the uber-popular Urban Lights. It racked up accolades in the art world with a full-page write-up in the LA Times Art Section and was covered by the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winning art critic.

By getting a beer ad in a museum, Miller Lite showed exactly where work holiday parties belong—history.

Works: The most successful holiday campaign in Miller Lite history delivering a sales volume increase of 5.4%, outpacing the entire beer category by 3%.