SABMiller plc: Low Carb campaign

In 2002, the beer brand, Miller Lite owned by SAB Miller, was struggling. Its market share fell from 23% in 1995 to 19.4% in 2002 and it had fallen to the number three brand in a category it had pioneered – light beer, lower in carbohydrates.

SABMiller plc: Low Carb campaign

Mark Lane

OVERVIEW

NOTE: Also see essay for Miller Brewing Company.

In 2002 South African Breweries bought the ailing Miller Brewing Company from the Phillip Morris Companies, took the name SABMiller, and set about trying to bring America's second-largest beer maker out of a decade-long slump. The brewer's leading product, Miller Lite, had been struggling to regain its spot at the top of its category since 1994, when Anheuser-Busch's Bud Light first overtook it, but its recent advertising campaigns had, without exception, failed to move product. A diet craze then sweeping the United States, however,...

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