• Ad Age, Tuesday, June 1, 2010 10:36 AM

Consumers are drinking less beer -- shipments are down 4% -- and the recession is a major cause of the slide, according to MillerCoors CMO Andy England. He points to the high unemployment figures among 21- to 35-year-old men who are the primary targets of beer companies; the Hispanic market has also been hard hit.

"I've never seen so much red ink on a spreadsheet in all my years in this business," says Harry Schuhmacher, publisher of Beer Business Daily.

Jeremy Mullman lays out new summer campaigns from MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch for their light brands and says both brewers are "pulling out all the stops this summer with everything from special bottles to ramped-up spending." The three major importers, meanwhile, are launching campaigns for light-beer versions -- Heineken Premium Light, Corona Light and Red Stripe Light -- this summer.

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