I saw this article in the Trib today and it was just too funny not to share.  The boldface is my emphasis.

chicagotribune.com

Miller Lite seeks taste of Coors Light’s success

Lite aims for market share gains without cannibalizing new partner’s sales

By Mike Hughlett

Tribune reporter

May 17, 2009
It may seem like a goofy gimmick: Mountains pictured on a bottle of Coors Light turn blue when the brew inside is frosty cold.

But it’s a key part of positioning Coors Light as the wellspring of “cold refreshment,” a marketing strategy that has helped to make the brand the toast of the mainstream beer world.

Coors Light has been the fastest-growing major domestic beer in recent years, and in 2008 it surpassed longtime rival Miller Lite as the nation’s second-best-selling light beer, behind Bud Light.

But that rivalry changed with last year’s merger of the U.S. operations of SABMiller PLC and Molson Coors Brewing Co. Now, the two light brews are under the umbrella of MillerCoors, a joint venture created to battle U.S. beer leviathan Anheuser-Busch. MillerCoors is set to open its Loop headquarters next month, bringing 300 to 400 jobs to Chicago.

The joint venture’s chief marketing officer, Andrew England, is aiming to pull Miller Lite out of a tailspin with some of the tricks he used to make Coors Light such a success. Shoring up Miller Lite, without significantly cannibalizing Coors Light, will be a tall order but a top priority.

After all, the two brews make up more than half of MillerCoors sales, and light beer, unlike mainstream domestic beer, remains a growth category

……

Miller Lite has been especially hard hit by the sour economy, which has hurt beer sales more at bars and restaurants, where it is ordered more than Coors Light, than at retailers such as grocery stores. Lite sales also were stung by a price hike last year that exceeded the average beer price increase. And Miller’s success with its new, ultralow-calorie MGD 64 has hurt Lite sales, some analysts say.

But experts also point to marketing missteps at Miller Lite in recent years. Where Coors has been consistent, “Miller’s message has been scattered, more confused,” Schumacher said.

For instance, Miller shifted a few years ago from touting Lite for low carbohydrates to an ad campaign known as “Man Laws,” a parody about what’s macho and what’s not. Lite went “from being sort of a diet beer to a manly beer,” Schumacher said. Then, “Man Laws” was dropped.

England aims to foster consistency by focusing on the old standby of taste. The new “great taste” campaign started with ads in February championing Lite’s “triple hops” brewing process. The company this month launches its “taste protector” theme, complete with packaging twists out of the Coors Light playbook.

Cans of Miller Lite now feature a “taste protector” coating along the pull-ring opening to ward off any hint of tinniness. The bottled version will be billed for its “taste protector” cap, though it’s really not different than any other cap.

MillerCoors’ Lite strategy “is definitely in the right direction, but whether taste resonates with young consumers remains to be seen,” Schumacher said.

John Greening, an advertising professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, is skeptical it will.

Light beer is “really not about taste,” said Greening, who long worked on beer advertising accounts. “Light beer is really about appearance: Who wants to be fat?”

Greening said that if people drink beer for flavor, they migrate to imports and craft beer.

England disagreed. To beer consumers, “the most important attribute is taste,” he said. “The second-most-important attribute is refreshment.”

For MillerCoors, it’s essential to position each of its light beers on different attributes: taste for Lite, refreshment for Coors Light. Each needs to have its own clear identity in order not to suck sales from the other, experts said.

After all, some beer business watchers say it isn’t a coincidence that Coors Light’s rise has coincided with Lite’s troubles.

“I do believe Coors Light grew partially at the expense of Miller Lite in recent years,” Steinman said

England said he’s not worried about one of his brands cannibalizing the other. The company’s studies show that Coors Light and Miller Lite tend to take or lose business more to Bud Light than each other, England said.

“My job is to take business away from Bud Light,” he said. “Bud Light is the enemy.”

Hilarious…

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