The choice of cheap NY teenagers in the 1970s.
Posted on 11/13/2006 5:34:40 AM PST by ShadowDancer
Miller Says It's OK To Drink Cheap Beer
Ad Campaign Targets Affluent 20-Somethings
POSTED: 8:08 am EST November 13, 2006
MILWAUKEE -- With affluent drinkers straying to imports and crafts, a new ad campaign by Miller Brewing Co. embraces Miller High Life's emphasis on value, saying it's OK to savor a lower priced brew.
Milwaukee-based Miller, the nation's second largest brewer, targeted affluent 20-somethings with an ongoing ad campaign that proclaims Miller Genuine Draft is a "grown up" beer for drinkers who want the better things in life.
But that campaign missed older drinkers, typically 35-year-olds with kids, who still want a low-priced brew, said Tom McLoughlin, marketing director for Miller High Life.
With sales of domestic beer dropping, the company can't afford to leave out prospective customers.
On Friday, Miller launched new television ads in 14 markets in the Midwest, including Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. The ads feature a delivery man removing Miller High Life from a bistro, dance club and other highbrow establishments, saying the brew doesn't belong there.
People can't have the finer things in life all the time and have to balance their purchases, McLoughlin said.
"As much as people trade up to experience more luxury goods, they can't do that all the time," he said. "There are places where you have to trade down."
Miller is banking on Miller High Life to help it offset a decline in U.S. sales. Its parent company, London-based SABMiller PLC said Thursday that U.S. volume was down 2.6 percent overall in the first six months of the year.
But sales of light value-priced beer have been up the past few years, according to a new report by research firm Mintel. Sales of both Miller High Life Light and Busch Light were up about 4 percent from 2004 to this year, while sales of the full-calorie equivalents were down about 6 percent each, the report said.
With sales of imports and crafts up about 11 percent in the first half of this year, Miller's new campaign shows the company is trying to capitalize on any growth trend it finds, said Eric Shephard, executive editor of the trade publication Beer Marketer's Insights. In this case, it's value-priced beer.
"Any kind of little bit of apparent change, even if they're not real, tends to get people reacting," Shephard said. "These could be short trends, but people have looked at it."
The new spots for Miller High Life could be the first of many, McLoughlin said. All three spots feature a delivery man who becomes indignant at the cost of items in establishments selling the beer. In the bistro clip, he looks at a menu, sees that burgers cost $11.50 and then hauls away cases of the beer.
"This beer is about helping people live the high life," he says. "It's a good honest beer at a tasty price."
McLoughlin said Miller believes some consumers don't really want to pay for higher-priced brews. A six-pack of High Life sells for about $4.99 in the Midwest, while Miller Genuine Draft goes for about $1 more.
"We want to call people on that and show them there's a way they can live the high life and that we rail against pretentiousness," he said.
Christy Brinnehl, a beverage analyst with Mintel Customs Solutions, said people tend to stick to beers in one price range. The ads aren't likely to convince people to switch to Miller's economy brew, but they could help reinforce attitudes among existing customers, she said.
The image of the delivery driver ought to resonate with those drinkers, many of whom are working class - and that's a smart move, Brinnehl said.
"I think that sometimes when the manufacturers are always targeting those affluent, younger 20s people who just started drinking," she said, "they're kind of leaving out those older drinkers or baby boomers."
They want to be the Illegal aliens beer of choice
Many years ago my mother and father were friends with one of the top guys at Miller. I remember talking about beer with him one summer evening, he with his Miller and I with my Bass Ale. This was along about the time that the microbreweries were coming on strong, circa 1985 or so. At that time his feeling, and apparently the feeling of the upper management at Miller at the time, was that the various microbreweries were a flash in the pan and would pass like any other fad. Although I respected his opinion in many other areas, he was just plain wrong that evening.....
Virtually all mass-produced American "beer" is pisswater. The only thing worse than their products is their advertising.
The domestic partner drinks something called Natural Light.
My daughter says it's slogan should be, "It's Better Than Nothing."
I would not have believed it, but beer snobs are even worse than wine snobs!
Well, I certainly could never argue with a beer called Dogfish Head. :) Seriously, can I get that in Loudoun County, VA?
The choice of cheap NY teenagers in the 1970s.
I confess. I have strayed from the path.
I now drink Mich Honey Lager.
I can only drink one or two of any of them
in the cheap department Pabst Blue Ribbon is tolerable.
Drinking Coors Light is like having sex in a boat. They're both f*&king near water.
Plywood aged Budweiser...pretty much says it all.
Swiller Low Life - the Gatorade of Beers
Drinking Coors Light is like having sex in a boat. They're both f*&king near water.
Plywood aged Budweiser...pretty much says it all.
" I would not have believed it, but beer snobs are even worse than wine snobs! "
Miller ain't beer ...it's bat's piss !
Miller is to beer what Cheese-Whiz is to cheese.
Amen to Germans drinking good beer. Unfortunately though the standard bar price for beer these days in Germany at a bar is usually 2 Euro ($2.40) or a little more. So sad. (supposedly the German government made bars RAISE the price of beer, because they didn't like the reputation of soft drinks costing more than beer)
In Prague, the beer is as good or better, and less than $1.75.
One can find Wernesgruener Pils (a classic eastern German pilsner) at your local Aldi grocery store here in NC for $4.95 a six pack...not bad at all.
Tastes close to Bitberger at nearly 2/3 the price.
I used to live in Leesburg. Definitely you can get it in Loudoun. Find it at Total, and most grocery stores.
Tuskies in Leesburg has it on tap too, I believe. They have about the finest beer selection in the area.
No thanks, I don't like my beer to be made with rice.
I like Genesee, and it's typically not expensive. Lienenkugel's is also usually reasonably priced and a decent brew, but don't know if its available outside of the midwest.
One of my favorites is http://www.flyingmonkeybeer.com but its distribution is I believe quite local to KS. Just got back from a caribbean honeymoon and wasn't impressed with the beers there so I stuck to the rum punch:) I do like Costa Rica's Imperial though.
If they're going to do a study, count me in!
What about Blatz?
Everytime I hear the opening bars and femmy whine of the new "This is budweiser, this is beer" tune-commercial, I cringe. It's just awful. They actually have a commercial alleging that their product, is in fact, actually beer. I guess the concept is in some doubt after all. For all that, technically speaking, it is not beer at all, since it is derived from rice, not barley.
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