UK: SABMiller to launch Miller Genuine Draft in England and Wales

World’s second-largest brewer SABMiller is to launch Miller Genuine Draft in England and Wales, backed by a heavyweight advertising campaign, UK media reported earlier this week.

The brewer's UK subsidiary, Miller Brands, said this week that it will support next month's launch with a multimillion pound campaign entitled 'Tonight, It's Miller Time'.

"With the prospect of higher cash margins versus other premium packaged lagers, the launch provides a valuable new profit opportunity for retailers in the on-trade," said the group. Miller Genuine Draft has already performed well in Scotland, where it is now one of the best-selling lagers in the country's on-trade.

Miller Brands said that its marketing campaign will include television and outdoor advertising. It is particularly targeting nightspots in major cities, beginning with an eight-week campaign across night clubs in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

In SABMiller's last fiscal year, to the end of March, its lager sales by volume rose by 23% in the UK, against a beer market that declined in every quarter bar one.

24 June, 2011