MILWAUKEE -- Miller Brewing Co.'s newest product, Miller Chill, is launching nationally this month after a successful spring test market. Miller Chill, an American take on the popular Mexican chelada, is a light beer brewed with a hint of lime and a pinch of salt.
The product is available wherever beer is sold and comes in 6- and 12-packs of 12-oz. bottles. Miller Chill was introduced into the test marketsArizona, Florida, New Mexico, San Diego and Texasin early March.
Miller Chill is a celebration and fusion of two wonderful [image-nocss] cultures, great light beer from America and the chelada-style from Mexico, said Miller's chief marketing officer, Randy Ransom.
The foundation of a Mexican cheladawhich loosely translates as cold oneis beer, lime, salt and ice. Cheladas are especially popular at Mexican resorts, with evidence pointing to enjoyment of cheladas in Guadalajara as far back as the 1960s.
Miller Chill has 110 calories per 12-oz. serving, 6.5 grams of carbohydrates and 4.2% alcohol by volume.
Milwaukee-based Miller, the North American arm of London-based SABMiller PLC, plans to spend more than $30 million this year on TV and print advertising for Chill, added a report by The Wall Street Journal. TV ads in local markets included the slogan, "Se habla Chill?" ("Do you speak Chill?").
The company is counting on Chill to help it reverse a sales decline in North America and regain market share in the face of brutal competition, the report said.
In the United States, Miller, Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Molson Coors Brewing Co. are struggling to increase sales of their flagship domestic beers, as beer drinkers increasingly reach for imports and small-batch "craft" brews, it added.
The brewer hopes Chill, which it calls a premium light lager, will appeal to light-beer drinkers seeking more flavor. Miller is targeting 21- to 35-year-olds with the new brand, Ransom told the Journal. "Consumers are looking for new and different ways to experience beer, and they're willing to pay for it," he said. "The core objective of this brand is to take share from competitive mainstream brands by giving light-beer drinkers a compelling reason to trade up."
At stores, a six-pack of Chill, sold in lime-green long-neck bottles, sells for $6.50 to $7, about a dollar more than a six-pack of Miller Lite.
Miller is not positioning Chill as an alternative to Grupo Modelo SA's Corona, the popular Mexican import often served with a wedge of lime, Ransom added, stressing that the two beers taste very different.
Beer-industry analysts say the introduction of Chill is an important move for the company. "They need a shot in the arm," Benj Steinman of Beer Marketer's Insights told the newspaper. "This is a pretty big bet by Miller."
Miller began researching the possibility of a michelada-style beer about 18 months ago. Its focus groups suggested American beer drinkers would be willing to try it. "There's clearly a move toward Latinization if you've been watching the American consumer," said Ransom.
Michelada ingredients can vary; they sometimes include hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce with a pinch of black pepper. Miller tested more than 20 recipes of Chill. It declined to discuss how the beer is made, citing competitive factors.
Sales to retailers have been about 40% higher than the company's goals, according to a recent memo sent to the company's distributors obtained by the Journal.
U.S. brewers' past efforts at Mexican-style drinks have not had big success, said the report. In 1999, A-B introduced Tequiza, a malt beverage flavored with lime, agave nectar and tequila. Despite some initial success, Tequiza was unable to make a dent in sales of Corona, its main target.
A-B since March has been trying out a beer called Cheladaa combination of Bud or Bud Light with Cadbury Schweppes PLC's Clamato tomato-juice cocktailin California and Texas. Keith Levy, A-B's vice president of sales and retail marketing, said the response has been "overwhelming," particularly in the Latino market. But the company does not have plans for a national launch of Chelada, sold in tall 24-oz. cans. "If it continues to perform well, we'll look at further expansion," Levy told the paper.
In other efforts to boost its sales, Miller is expanding its distribution of imports brewed by other units of its parent company, such as the Italian beer Peroni, and placing more emphasis on its U.S. craft-beer division, Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co.
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