High Life Delivery Man : Resonant Ad Icon

Effective brand advertising necessitates emotional connections. For this reason, I am completely "in the tank" for Saatchi & Saatchi, and their CEO, Kevin Roberts. His ideas of emotional connections -- Lovemarks -- resonate with my experimental research.

And I continue to believe in my heart and mind that long-term emotional connections beat out short-term ROI for the vast majority of consumer goods and services.

Then it's no surprise that one of my favorite television of ads of 2009 came from Saatchi & Saatchi.

While reading the awesome Dec. 15, 2008, "Book of Tens" issue of Advertising Age, I came across 10 "Ads Garfield Loved."

Although I don't always agree with their rambunctious ad critic, his No. 3 choice, Miller High Life, is dead on:

The High Life delivery man is the arbiter of down-to-earth beer drinking. He's angry, confused, joyous and charismatic all at once. In the baseball skybox, amid cheese-nibbling elites who aren't even watching the game, he is transcendentally appalled.

In addition to being a funny commercial and a nice piece of storytelling, this ad is the brand. High Life is a lower-priced beer, and there is no benefit in shying away from it. Instead, this ad and the broader campaign embrace the everyman theme of an economical brew.

Frustrated that corporate America is pricing sporting events out of your range? So is the High Life delivery man.

The ad resonates, we make an emotional connection, and the magic of Roberts, Ogilvy, and Burnett happens.

Santa, please bring me more ads like this in 2009!