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This week in 2004, INSIGHTS reviewed ad $$ spending and clear trend among top domestic players for their media spending in 2003 was to back winners and big brands. For example, AB put $43 mil into Michelob Ultra, up $26 mil, but cut $30 mil from Michelob Light. Held Bud family spending even at $250 mil with increase for Bud Light, decrease for Bud. AB saved $7 mil on malternatives but boosted Amber Bock by $5 mil. Similarly, Miller held spending on Lite ($120 mil) but slashed its malternative spending by nearly $50 mil. Miller upped MGD spending tho brand was down double digits. Coors cut Coors Original spending in half, Zima spending by almost 40%, but reduced Coors Light spending by just 4%. Big spending hikes in 03: Modelo brands, Heineken USA, Labatt USA and Boston. Among top importers, only Diageo made major cuts. All figures were from TNS Media Intelligence/CMR Ad $ Summary. This week in 2005, INSIGHTS revisited the challenge of increasing the number of women drinking beer. "Women are the driving force in wine and spirits growth," and "flavor matters more than diet products&hellip;more light beers won't win them back," wrote Deutsche Bank in its own survey of 360 21-30 yr-old female drinkers. Interestingly, beer did best "pre-game," that is before young drinkers went out to bars. While 43% of female drinkers drank before going out, 72% of those drank beer. But in this survey of young drinkers (Morgan Stanley surveyed the entire population) 48% preferred beer overall. Only wine had more consumers increasing than decreasing consumption in past yr. In fact, "wine is sneaking up on spirits," wrote Marc Greenberg at Deutsche Bank, and "skews heaviest to females."This week in 2009, MillerCoors continued to look to get an advantage as ABI reduced spending in US. With AB "cutting spending on everything from radio to sports naming rights, MillerCoors is looking to gain some share at its competitor's expense," reported Ad Age. Radio looked to be fertile ground for MC with AB scaling back and other traditional sponsors like car manufacturers running short on $$ at the time. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us as the new MillerCoors," said MC's sports and event mktg exec veep Dockery Clark at Radio Advertising Bureau Conference. "Now we have the chance to turn other categories upside down," she added. MC sought oppy to boost share thru naming-rights deals and event-based mktg Dockery said. "Although MillerCoors is looking to increase its investment in its event strategy, the frequency is being drastically retooled," wrote mag. "Instead of doing eight one-hour promotions, we're doing four two-hour promotions," said Jack Ferris, a MC event mgr in Tampa. "It's not just about radio being there; it's about having some sort of consumer hook." To stand out for example, instead of offering a pair of tickets to a game or concert "we're giving away a six-pack of tickets. We have to make things a little bigger," added Jack.This week in 2010, the next stage of spirits consolidation continued as Southern Wine and Spirits announced another JV (after deal for JJ Taylor in MN earlier that month), this time with MD-based Frederick P. Winner Ltd to sell spirits, wine and non-alc brands. Besides Winner Ltd, Winner also had separate beer biz Winner Distributing (AB, Crown, etc). That same week Berkshire Hathaway made it official and announced purchase of Empire, GA alc bev (mostly spirits and wine) distrib. The man himself, Warren Buffett, stated his intentions to "potentially" get larger in this biz. Warren said: "We expect that the Empire acquisition will provide us with a solid platform for potentially acquiring other similar high quality wholesale distributors." One attraction of alc bev distribution might simply be superior margins to McLane's typical model. McLane's had just a little better than 1% EBIT margin on its $32 bil in sales.This week in 2014, INSIGHTS reported AB was one of 14 major alc bev suppliers whose 2011 ads/mktg were reviewed by FTC with fine-tooth comb. Key test was whether company ad placements across media met threshold that audience was at least 70% adult. FTC was especially focused on digital at the time. Grades for alc bev suppliers came in high. In 1st half of 2011, "99.5% of alcohol ads that advertisers placed on sites owned by others - such as news, entertainment and sports sites - met" the 70% standard. Couldn't get much better than that. On traditional media, 93.1% of placements met the standard, including 99.4% for mags, 94.6% for natl television. Figure was even higher for overall impressions, 97.3% hit the standard. FTC also praised Beer Inst and DISCUS for their "proactive efforts" to address digital issues. Reminded again why it supports self-regulation instead of govt regulation: self-regulation is less expensive, more flexible and quicker to adapt and is an "appropriate response" to any concerns about alc bev mktg in context of "substantial protections" for commercial speech under 1st Amendment.This week in 2016, ceo Gavin Hattersley wrote employees to inform them that after sale to Molson Coors was completed, MillerCoors would remain in Chicago and also keep its name. Announcement was meant to relieve "some anxiety and questions" regarding deal. "Based on thorough cost and benefits analysis," HQ will remain in Chicago and Molson Coors will stay in Colorado, he noted. The MillerCoors name "reflects our proud heritage here in the U.S. and has strong recognition and brand equity with our customers," added Gavin. He also noted co is "confident we will achieve the synergy targets" announced back in Nov, "largely from opportunities within our shared procurement, supply chain and shared services operations." Around 450 employees worked at its 167K sq ft office on S. Wacker Drive, noted Chicago Tribune. MC "has no intention on cutting back on space in building," spokesman Jonathan Stern told Trib, but no word so far if there will be change in number of employees. MC had signed a 15-year lease on that location in 2008. MC moved its HQ to a different building in Chicago in 2024 and opted to close its Denver HQ as part of its revitalization plan in late 2019, among other developments since.

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