Key to the success of the proposed joining of the U.S. beer operations of SABMiller sap and Molso...

1. Miller, Molson marketing strategy vital to merger
Key to the success of the proposed joining of the U.S. beer operations of SABMiller sap and Molson
Coors tap will be coordinating their marketing clout to rival Anheuser-Busch bud.
A-B, No. 1 in the U.S. beer market with nearly a 50% share, spent about $511 million on advertising
last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. That dwarfs the spending of either No. 2 SABMiller
or No. 3 Molson Coors, which total about 30% of the market. But combined, their ad spending was
about $422 million.
That firepower could set off a real battle, likely to be fought online as much as on TV.
"This could reopen the beer wars, but looking at the audience, this can be as much a digital battle as
in traditional media," says Brad Adgate, director of research for ad buyer Horizon Media. "The
heaviest beer drinkers tend to be the same young men who are consumers of new media."
Ad tracker Jupiter Research reports that males ages 25 to 34 watch less TV than average consumers
-- 14 hours vs. 18 hours -- and spend more time on the Internet -- 20 hours vs. 18 hours.
Target-market males "use it for work and play, and are more adaptive of devices like iPhone and
BlackBerry to access the Web on the go," says Emily Riley, an advertising analyst with Jupiter.
TV gets about 75% of the ad expenditures, TNS says. Brewers wouldn't say how much of the rest
they devote to online.
But A-B -- a master TV advertiser with events such as the Super Bowl locked up in long-term deals --
has gone flat online with its costly, high-profile Bud.TV.
Miller Lite had online success last year with its TV and Web "Man Laws" campaign. Young male
users created and posted hundreds of rules on the site. Miller also showed innovation in TV spending
recently, getting its fast-growing Miller Chill, brewed with lime and salt, written into a Late Night
with Conan O'Brien script.
Coors Light's novel Happy Hour campaign this year included a "4:53 Silver Bullet train" shooting
across websites popular with men ages 21 to 34. In August, it shifted gears to sponsor
Foxsports.com's Fantasy Football corner.
A-B, meanwhile, is closing in on decision time for Bud.TV. The entertainment site has failed to get
hoped-for traffic, and A-B executives have said they may abandon it or shift its content -- such as
comedy, style, dating and entertainment videos -- to A-B or other sites.
Pending regulatory approval, SABMiller and Molson Coors expect their Miller Coors U.S. venture to
be final by mid-2008.
Though A-B seems more vulnerable online than on TV, the rivals aren't saying if they will try to fight
the new beer wars in cyberspace.
"Non-traditional media continues to grow, and we are exploring it," says Julian Green, a spokesman
for Miller. But, he adds, "It's too early to tell in terms of how the philosophies of each company in
terms of media spending will come together."