Another Round From Miller

Milwaukee -- Following its first quarter launch of Skyy Blue, Miller Brewing Co. is continuing to tap into the malternative craze with three more introductions leveraged by strong spirit trademarks. Later this year, Miller will launch Jack Daniel's Original Hard Cola. In June, Miller partnered with Allied Domecq PLC, Westport, Conn., to introduce Stolichnaya Citrona and Sauza Diablo.Each of the two launches has a $1.7 million promotional budget, more than was allocated for Skyy Blue's launch, according to company officials. The promotional program includes a variety of on-and off-premise P-O-P materials."Both companies were interested in the flavored malt-beverage category, and that led to our business partnership," explains RUSS Schleiden, brand manager for the products at Miller. "We both saw the success of the Smirnoff Ice brand, and at Miller we considered what were the strongest trademarks in the spirits industry that we could leverage to enter the category. That led us to Allied Domecq and these products in particular."Although South African Breweries plc has agreed to buy Miller from Philip Morris Cos. for $3.6 billion in stock and the assumption of $2 billion in debt, the buyout won't affect the company's support of the new products, says Molly Reilly, Miller spokeswoman. The deal was official in early July, following stockholder and regulatory approval. Upon closing, South African Breweries will change its name to SABMiller plc and will rank as the second-largest brewer.Schleiden says Miller will continue to look for new opportunities for new product launches that build incremental sales. "The flavored malt-beverage category is growing like crazy, and we see products like Skyy Blue providing all incremental volume to our business. There is tremendous potential in the category."Stolichnaya Citrona offers a blend of citrus and vodka with other natural flavors, while Sauza Diablo features citrus flavors combined with tequila. Allied Domecq supplies concentrates of both of its products, and Miller then finishes the manufacturing process and packages and distributes the malt beverages, Schleiden says."Allied Domecq took the lead in developing the products because they were partway down the path toward developing new products when we reached an agreement on our partnership," he says.Developing the products' marketing goals and support has been shared equally, but Miller took the lead in creating the P-O-P materials with Allied Domecq's approval, Schleiden explains. "They own the trademarks and have a strong vested interest in ensuring the materials support the equity of the parent brands."The P-O-P includes a variety of components for both on-and off-premise, with approximately a dozen pieces for each channel, says Mario Austin, brand promotions manager for Miller. Base wrap, case and display cards, shelf wobblers and cooler clings are some of the off-premise P-O-P materials, while on-premise P-O-P includes table tents, posters and menu cards. The P-O-P was created in conjunction with Marketing Drive Worldwide Inc., Wilton, Conn., and was produced by Madden Inc., Bloomingdale, Ill. All materials are assembled in-store by the company's distributors or unit-sales teams.Stolichnaya Citrona emphasizes an old-fashioned Russian image and uses the key tagline, "Defect to Citrona." The P-O-P materials were created to resemble those produced on an old-time printing press. "We wanted to give it an authentic feel to project to consumers the image that we were going for with the beverages," Austin says.Sauza Diablo projects a "fun, devilish, naughty" attitude in its P-O-P, using the key tagline, "Naughty Is Nice" as well as "Devilishly Unique." Additional P-O-P materials were produced for Sauza Diablo in Spanish to extend the campaign into Hispanic markets.The products were rolled out regionally in late May and reached national distribution in June. A variety of media support, including national television ads, is supplementing the P-O-P materials.

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