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Coors Likely To Drop Miller Lite's Bud Bashing

  • Ad Age , Monday, June 23, 2008 10:30 AM
Miller Lite likely will ditch its trademark tweaking of Anheuser-Busch after the U.S. combination of Miller and Coors takes effect next week, according to current and former executives from both companies and their respective agencies. And Coors Light will lose the "Ultimate Light Beer" positioning that has helped it significantly outperform its Milwaukee soon-to-be sibling.

Both approaches are seen as anathema to Coors CMO Andy England and CEO Leo Kiely, who also will be CMO and CEO of the new entity. Until now, Miller and Coors have had to compete for the attention of the roughly 60% of wholesalers they've shared, and their advertising has often reflected those efforts.

Coors executives are said to regard Miller Lite's current positioning -- "the Ultimate Light Beer" -- as too muddled, because it makes separate claims on taste, carbohydrates and refreshment, and is also implicitly derisive of Coors Light. People familiar with England's approach say he is likely to pick one of the claims under-girding the "ultimate" message and hammer it repeatedly.

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