MillerCoors is hoping you’ll ring in 2020 – or at the very least, maybe christen a ship – in a more nontraditional fashion this year.
For the second year in a row, Miller High Life is offering its beer in Champagne-sized 750-milliliter bottles ahead of New Year’s Day, reportedly after the bottles became a big seller in late 2018.
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“Reception was so good across the country last year that it was a no-brainer to bring it back for 2019,” claims Nigel Jones, the marketing manager for the Miller family of brands, in a press release. “The attention our distinctive Champagne bottle commands not only is a great marketing tool to boost brand equity, but it gets the Champagne of Beers into more holiday moments.”
The bottles originally debuted in test markets in Chicago in 2016, before those tests were expanded to the Milwaukee area the following year. A nationwide rollout followed in 2018, during which Miller reported that retailers were seeing a “4.9 percentage point lift in dollar sales” over stores that weren’t selling the Champagne-sized beers.
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But this year’s bottles aren’t exactly the same as 2018’s. “The primary badge on this year’s version is more reminiscent of Miller High Life 12-ounce bottles with a slight diagonal orientation framed in gold and green,” the press release states.
In re-releasing the bottles, Miller hopes to earn a larger share of the floor-display space at retailers. The brand is also pushing for bars to “toast” with High Life come New Year’s, even going so far as to send select locations a bunch of couple-style Champagne glasses, for building glassware towers in the barrooms/dining areas.
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Based on last year’s sales, MillerCoors also expects retail locations to sell out of the bottles rather quickly, which means that interested retail shoppers – and, of course, anyone planning a nontraditional ship-christening ceremony – might want to act fast.
“The rule of thumb is that if you see it once, jump on it because it tends to sell out quickly,” said Jones.