Mating Gorillas
Saturday October 13, 2007
The number two and three US brewers are joining forces next year. SABMiller and Molson will combine the Miller and Coors brands for a new company, imaginatively named MillerCoors.
With their combined sales they will control 30% of the US beer market while Anhueser-Busch continues to enjoy control of nearly 50%. On the world stage AB and SABMiller are much more evenly matched but in the US market AB is and has been dominant for a long, long time.
According to the news piece at Financial Times each of the new partners will have equal voting interests although SAB will have the larger economic stake in the new venture.
One of the first things I thought of when I read this piece was Blue Moon. The CEO of SAB thinks that craft beer is nothing more than a fad that will soon run its course. Apparently he believes that watery, flavorless beer is the future and even faux craft beers like Blue Moon, which is brewed by Coors, will soon die and go away.
AB, on the other hand, has been smarter than this and recognizes that beer is changing rapidly and in unexpected ways. They’ve paid attention as their flagship brands like Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob have stagnated and even lost ground in sales despites their best marketing efforts while the craft beer and import market have gained ground.
If the richer of the MillerCoors partners has its way Blue Moon, Coors’s best hope for keeping up with the craft market, may be fazed out. Of course this is pure speculation on my part but it seems the natural conclusion to draw given SABMiller’s disdain for craft brands.
With their combined sales they will control 30% of the US beer market while Anhueser-Busch continues to enjoy control of nearly 50%. On the world stage AB and SABMiller are much more evenly matched but in the US market AB is and has been dominant for a long, long time.
According to the news piece at Financial Times each of the new partners will have equal voting interests although SAB will have the larger economic stake in the new venture.
One of the first things I thought of when I read this piece was Blue Moon. The CEO of SAB thinks that craft beer is nothing more than a fad that will soon run its course. Apparently he believes that watery, flavorless beer is the future and even faux craft beers like Blue Moon, which is brewed by Coors, will soon die and go away.
AB, on the other hand, has been smarter than this and recognizes that beer is changing rapidly and in unexpected ways. They’ve paid attention as their flagship brands like Budweiser, Bud Light, and Michelob have stagnated and even lost ground in sales despites their best marketing efforts while the craft beer and import market have gained ground.
If the richer of the MillerCoors partners has its way Blue Moon, Coors’s best hope for keeping up with the craft market, may be fazed out. Of course this is pure speculation on my part but it seems the natural conclusion to draw given SABMiller’s disdain for craft brands.
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