Happy Hour, MillerCoors Style

We had the unenviable task of learning about two very boring subjects: 1) beer and 2) sports. Not sure how the people at MillerCoors are able to motivate themselves!

Ok, enough with the sarcasm!

Kevin Reilly (’06) and about 6 other speakers put on an extremely comprehensive presentation. The meeting was held at MillerCoors’ new downtown Chicago office, right across the street from Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower).

Not a bad place to wind up.

They have their own in-office pub that employees can use from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day.

Something tells me daily productivity dips sometime shortly after 3:59 p.m.

As you can imagine, the NFL and NASCAR are huge promotion avenues for MillerCoors. But, so is the Rock n’ Roll Marathon (for a brand like MGD 64). And, so are spots with ESPN’s Mike and Mike.

But, keep in mind that beer is not sold directly from MillerCoors to consumers. It must go through a distributor and then a retailer (for example, a store or restaurant/bar).

So everybody has to be happy along the way. Not just the beer drinker.

And different states have different laws about how beer can be sold. MillerCoors also has to know how to market to a restaurant chain such as Applebees’ vs. Joe’s Local Pub vs. a grocery store.

Not to mention, the nuances between the Miller Lite drinker and the Blue Moon drinker (a MillerCoors brand now if you didn’t know).

Get the idea? Maybe there’s enough work to be done that there isn’t always time for the in-office pub.

Mike Hardman