UK: SABMiller is looking for a PR agency for its Pilsner Urquell

International brewer SABMiller is seeking an agency to handle global commitments for its Pilsner Urquell lager brand, according to company’s news room, March 9.

The Anglo-South African firm wants to target 25 to 35-year-old drinkers. It is hunting a UK-based agency to oversee a global PR drive from London.

The annual budget is likely to be in the region of pounds 350,000, and there is no current incumbent.

Pilsner Urquell sits in the premium lager sector, and the targeting of 'discerning' drinkers will be key to the winning agency's strategy.

The beer is sold in countries across western Europe, Russia, North America and Australia.

SABMiller declined to comment on the pitch, but PRWeek understands it is being handled out of Pilsner Urquell's international brand office in Woking. A shortlist is believed to have been drawn up, but the process is thought to have taken some time due to the number of agencies contracted to rival lager briefs.

The winning agency's fees will be paid out of SABMiller's pounds 2m marketing war chest, created to fund the brewer's marcoms until the end of the year.

Pilsner Urquell is one of a triumvirate of SABMiller premium brands. Sales of the drink, and sister brands Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni Nastro Azzurro, total more than 50 million litres a year.

SABMiller, listed on the London Stock Exchange and valued at pounds 16bn, is the world's second largest brewer.

It is also China's biggest beer producer by volume, and last year unveiled a pounds 50m plan to buy three more breweries in the country. It bought Foster's Indian business for a reported pounds 60m in 2006.

14 March, 2007