• WSJ, Thursday, February 2, 2006 11:45 AM

At a time when many major marketers are cherry-picking ad agencies between larger shops and independent boutiques, Miller Brewing is going the other way. The company announced it is consolidating the majority of its advertising duties for its Miller Lite brand with Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Losers include Ogilvy & Mather, the Martin Agency, and Wieden + Kennedy. Young & Rubicam, which had been on the roster, will continue to do some project work for the brand, which spends more than $180 million on advertising annually. The move comes at a time when Miller is locked in an intense competition with arch rival Anheuser-Busch in which each player has used comparative advertising to snipe away at each other. It's another impressive win for Miami-based Crispin, one of the hottest shops in the nation, which has lately added such clients as Volkswagen and Sprite to its stable. Miller chose Crispin because it "demonstrated the capability of working across all media," says Tom Long, Miller's chief marketing officer.

Read the whole story at WSJ »