USA: Miller has announced new plan to market its flagging beer

Miller Brewing Co. announced on January 12 a new plan to market its flagging full-calorie beer, Miller Genuine Draft, by targeting aspiring young adults. It features the catch phrase: "Beer. Grown Up", according to Associated Press.

The campaign unveiled to some 200 Wisconsin distributors and sales representatives, is rolling out nationwide in phases leading up to the official launch March 1, 2006. The campaign targets at attracting adults in their late 20s to 30s who have drifted away from beer and switched to other alcohol-based drinks, microbrews and imports. "We've found our target consumer, 26- to 40-year-old strivers that are being neglected by the beer category," brand director Terry Haley told the audience. "It is perfect for Miller Genuine Draft".

The brand makeover, which includes new gold labels and a clear glass bottle, is the latest for Miller. It began overhauling labels such as Miller Lite, High Life and Milwaukee's Best after becoming a subsidiary of SAB Miller PLC in 2002. Observers were sceptical at the effort to revive the full-calorie domestic beer business, which has declined against light beers and other drinks for several years. From 2000 to 2004, that segment fell from 65 million barrels to 54 million barrels, going from about a third of all beers to a quarter, according to Eric Shepard, executive editor of the Nanuet, N.Y.-based newsletter Beer Marketer's Insights.

Miller Genuine Draft has slumped since its peak of 7.5 million barrels in 1993, and accounted for two percent of U.S. beer sales in 2004 at 4.0 million barrels. In comparison, Anheuser-Busch Cos.'s leading full-calorie beer Budweiser had about a 14 percent share, down about a third of its volume since 1993.

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