Miller's 'Blizzard' Dominates With On-Premise Ceiling Unit

Miller Brewing Co. has created a permanent, ceiling-hung display for on-premise accounts that brings to life its slogan, "Get Out of the Old and Into the Cold." The display's circular, clear-plastic dome features Miller Genuine Draft (MGD) bottles leaning out of a snow drift. A blizzard, generated by hidden fans blowing plastic snow, swirls around them.The unit was introduced to the market in February in a production run of 3,800, according to a spokesman for the Milwaukee brewer. Its genesis came from 1994's off-premise version that proved irresistible to retailers. "That first display was so distinctive and popular that we received a number of requests from on-premise retailers and our distributors to create a permanent, on-premise version," the spokesman says. "We started looking at the possibility of doing that and developed this to hang over the bar."The off-premise version featured a single bottle of MGD in a 40-inch-tall, 26-inch-diameter PETG cylinder. It accompanied 100-case-minimum orders and was designed to be routed through various stores during different promotional periods. The new on-premise version consists of an injection-molded oval measuring about 24 inches in diameter and 18 inches high. It features a black base that is about 6 inches tall and includes the MGD logo. This base houses fans and directional, injection-molded styrene ramps that propel air into the clear section dome, swirling loose plastic snow particles to resemble a blizzard. The snow intermingles with a plastic snow drift. Six regular-sized bottles are positioned there, half-covered with snow.The dome's interior is lit from beneath by fluorescent bulbs. The display is through-bolted to the ceiling to provide a sturdy, permanent fastening.Thomas A. Schutz Co. of Morton Grove, Ill., produced both blizzard units. "The display picks up on the advertising campaign and carries that into the on-premise arena," explains Richard F. Machas, president of the P-O-P firm. "The goal is to provide a consistent image that goes right from the television ads down through the P-O-P pieces, and this display achieves that."The display's drama is exceeded only by the technology required to make it work, Machas says. "The process is more complicated technologically than you would imagine," he explains. "We needed to create a special material that would act like snow and provide a realistic motion. However, the entire operation is controlled by air pressures and air movements, and everything inside the dome affects that. The shape and placement of the bottles and snow mounds were critically important to make it work properly." The display required more than a year of development to produce.

Miller's 'Blizzard' Dominates With On-Premise Ceiling Unit

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