New Miller CMO: No Jump Balls, More Consistency

It took Miller's CMO Tom Long just seven months to eliminate the brewer's three-year-old arrangement that required shops to constantly compete for assignments on its Miller Lite and Genuine Draft brands.The final move came last week when Miller awarded sole duties on its $200 million Miller Lite account to MDC Partners' Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami. In an attempt to align the brewer's brands with one primary agency, Long has pitted the company's five shops—WPP's Ogilvy & Mather in New York and Young & Rubicam in Chicago, Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., The Martin Agency and CP+B—against each other twice since joining last June. The Martin Agency, an Interpublic Group shop in Richmond, Va., won the first competition last August to gain the $75 million MGD account. Ogilvy was eliminated, and Y&R continues to do Miller work not related to specific brands. Wieden continues as the primary shop for the $15 million Miller High Life, as it has for nearly a decade, and Mother in New York retains duties on Milwaukee's Best.Long could not be reached for comment, but a company rep said the former president of Coca-Cola's Northwest Europe Division eliminated the jump-ball system because he prefers the consistency of work from a single agency to the creative variety generated through competition among shops. He wants each brand to have a distinct look and voice, something he can better control by working with a single shop on each brand, the company said.Long "has made some bold decisions and will continue to do that," the rep said, referring to the company's current review of its $300 million media business, now at Publicis Groupe's Starcom in Chicago. Long continues to evaluate the company's other marketing plans, the rep said. Details of CP+B's pitch for Miller Lite were not disclosed, but Miller's rep cited the shop's trademark "media-neutral" approach to advertising as a determining factor. CP+B "demonstrated an impressive ability to think in innovative ways across all marketing platforms and to apply their creativity smartly across emerging and traditional media," the company said.Miller said it also was attracted to the shop's reputation for representing brands that are challenging the dominant players in an industry. Miller Lite changed its advertising to focus on taste in 2004 after spending most of 2003 promoting its low-carb content. Most recently, Miller has directly challenged Budweiser, naming its competitor in ads and even showing Miller drinkers taunting Bud with megaphones outside Bud's headquarters. Miller Lite ranks second in the nation's light-beer category with about 9 percent of the market share, while Bud Light claims more than 20 percent. But Miller Lite has grown faster annually for the past two years, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp. in New York.CP+B has been producing ads for Miller Lite since joining the roster shop last year. The shop launched the "Great Taste Trial" ads in November, when it also created a spot for Miller's 1855 Celebration Lager. The company declined to say when new work from CP+B will debut.Martin will handle a relaunch of Miller Genuine Draft scheduled to begin with a 60-second spot on the Academy Awards on March 5. The work will position MGD as a beer for people with more mature tastes. The tag is, "Beer. Grown Up."

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New Miller CMO: No Jump Balls, More Consistency

Jim Lovel

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