As our readers have predicted for weeks, MillerCoors officially consolidated creative duties on its Miller brands within the DDB network today. Moving forward, DDB Chicago will be global AOR for Miller Lite and Adam&EveDDB will handle Miller Genuine Draft. The decision follows a formal creative review involving several other competitors.
This means the beverage giant has split with 180LA after just over one year; it will also no longer officially work with TBWA sister shop Juniper Park.
Here’s the internal memo from CMO Dave Kroll, who recently returned from medical leave.
Achieving our growth imperative and ensuring that MillerCoors becomes First Choice for Customers and Consumers requires strong performance from our American Light Lagers. We’ve made great progress over the past couple of years, but still have work to do.
Miller Lite recently celebrated its 10th straight quarter of share growth. In order to accelerate our momentum, it’s imperative that we have the strongest team possible on board. Starting this week, we are consolidating the Miller Lite creative responsibilities at DDB Chicago. This transition will be seamless as we are keeping the business within the Omnicom family. We are moving some of the best creative talent from our previous agencies 180LA and Juniper Park, into a new team at DDB in order to have a best-in-class creative and planning team. DDB has made great strides on the digital side of the Miller Lite business over the last month, and we feel confident that this expanded team will keep the brand on its positive trajectory.
In addition to consolidating the U.S. Miller Lite creative business, we will also be strengthening our relationship with DDB by moving global creative for Miller Genuine Draft to DDB’s London-based agency Adam & Eve.
In an increasingly competitive industry, it’s crucial that we reward agency partners that share our commitment and vision for the future. We have the right brand purpose, the right brand world and the right creative to bring it all together. Now we have the right team in place to capitalize on the opportunity in front of us.
Thanks,
DK
Spokespeople for DDB deferred to the client, who didn’t go beyond the memo above. 180LA has not yet provided a statement.
According to one reliable source, the Miller Lite review saw DDB Chicago beat out the L.A. offices of 180, BBH and CP+B for the business. It’s currently unclear which agencies, if any, competed against Adam&EveDDB for the other account.
Just over two months ago, MillerCoors moved digital creative duties on the Miller Lite brand from DigitasLBi Chicago to DDB, apparently without a review. Since then, MillerCoors reps have declined on more than one occasion to confirm that they would be consolidating the account with DDB.
The parent company spent $130 million promoting Miller Lite in the U.S. last year and $27 million in Q1 2017.