Miller Brewing is launching Miller Chill, a 110-calorie beer flavored with lime and salt, throughout the U.S. this summer after a successful test run in Texas and several other states. Chill is
modeled on the michelada--a drink popular at Mexican beach resorts usually consisting of beer, lime juice and ice in a salt-rimmed glass.
The brewer hopes Chill--which it calls a
premium light lager--will appeal to light-beer drinkers seeking more flavor. It is targeting 21- to 35-year-olds, says Randy Ransom, Miller's CMO. A six-pack, sold in lime-green long-neck bottles,
sells for $6.50 to $7, about a dollar more than Miller Lite.
Miller plans to spend more than $30 million this year on TV and print advertising for Chill. TV ads in local markets include
the slogan, "Se habla Chill?" ("Do you speak Chill?"). Miller isn't positioning Chill as an alternative to Corona, the popular Mexican import often served with a wedge of lime, Ransom says, stressing
that the two beers taste very different.
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