Most marketers have one -- if not many -- memorable "pitches that got away." Ideas that they sank their hearts and souls (not to mention countless hours and funds) into developing, only to be turned down flat by a client.
But in the internet age, do those pitches ever really die? Sometimes not. Consider the case of Miller Lite. Ad Age reports that, nearly a decade ago, the brand (probably wisely) rejected a spec ad in which two men pig out on a pile of yellow snow. The snow is later revealed to be a puddle of Miller Lite from a leaking keg -- but by that time, it's beside the point in the viewers' minds.
Imagine Miller Lite's surprise, then, when the long-dead spec ad popped up on YouTube -- and garnered more than 175,000 views, no less. As it turns out, the ad's director had posted the ad on his production company's site as a work sample -- and you can probably figure out the rest for yourself.
This case is just one more example of the increasing inability of brands to control their own images online -- even when it comes to marketing materials initially created for the brand's review. What, then, is a brand to do? Besides being prepared and willing to eat its fair share of yellow snow, that is...
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