Canada: Molson Coors focus on strategic brands is starting to pay off in profits

Molson Coors Brewing Co. says the key to its success in 2006 was riding a handful of its strategic brands and promoting them heavily, an effort that led to increased profits last year, Canadian Press reported May 16.

The company has been pushing strategic brands-brands in which more than 80 per cent of funding, marketing and spending is invested-and those brands have been growing as a result, CFO Timothy Wolf said after the Canada-U.S. company's annual meeting on Wednesday.

The brewer has benefited from the growth of those beers, which include Molson Canadian, Coors Light, Rickard's and Carling brands.

Molson Canadian, currently the third-largest selling beer in Canada with an eight per cent market share, has been "a challenge" Wolf acknowledged in an interview.

After the 2005 merger, the company began spending more money on the Molson Canadian product, organizing the sales force to focus on fewer brands and revamped advertising campaigns. The tactics worked sometimes and not so well other times, Wolf said.

"The other challenge is making sure that from a price stand point, we are competitive," Wolf said.