Miller Brands - brand master

Being a brewer without a brewery has its advantages in the UK market.

Miller Brands - the UK arm of global brewing giant SAB Miller - is a comparative newcomer to the domestic market and has no brewery in this country, yet it appears to have turned this into a positive with a strategy based on quality over quantity.

The group's chief executive Nick Miller - no relation, although certain industry wags have been known to refer to him as "The Family Brewer" - has masterminded the plan over the last five years and in that time taken brands including Peroni from zero to hero.

Miller sees his work as part of changing how UK consumers see beer. "This industry needs to do something about beer's image," he says. "We're not attracting enough younger drinkers to beer - if you look at what those younger drinkers are drinking, it's spirits or wine, not beer."

With no brewery in the UK there is no pressure to increase volumes and maximise capacity to offset overheads. Instead, the group has focused on building a strong brand image for its beers which makes consumers value them and persuades drinkers to pay a lot more for them.

The beers are imported so the challenge is to order in the right quantities with enough lead time to satisfy demand.

And with a five-week lead time, the supermarkets simply can't order the volume required for a last minute

cut-price deal. This helps with the strategy of building the image of a premium brand like Peroni which can easily be damaged if it becomes synonymous with cheap off-trade deals.

The strategy also challenges the previous connection consumers made between alcoholic strength and price, as with Miller Brand's newly launched on-trade exclusive Kozel beer - a Czech lager with a four per cent ABV but a premium image.

Vibrant environment

Hailing from 17 different nations the average age of a Miller Brands employee is 35 and the male/female split is 54/46, a striking contrast to the rest of the very male-dominated world of brewing.

"It creates a vibrant and passionate environment here," says Miller. "We are still quite lean too, with about 60 people, and if we go beyond that we can't retain the fleet-of-foot culture that we have."

It has also meant that much of its marketing and advertising has a broad appeal across all drinkers - negating the need to launch a specific "female-friendly" beer. Peroni, for example, has a 22 per cent female following overall, rising to 25 per cent in London, as compared to only 15 per cent for most lagers. "Would I launch a gender-specific beer? No. Beer must appeal to both male and female drinkers alike," says Miller.

One of the key things that endeared Peroni to both genders was the innovative 'vase'-style designer glassware that raised its on-trade presence immeasurably, but has since spawned a few copycat glasses. Is Miller worried about increased competition? "It's flattering," he says. "The Peroni glassware is probably the best thing we've ever invested in."

But rather than concern over losing market share, he points to the growth of the world beer category as positive for all the brands within it.

"Competition keeps you on your toes," he adds.

More launches?

So what of the future? Miller points to the potential for other launches into the UK market from within the global portfolio, although he stresses there is nothing firm planned.

Castle lager - one of the SAB Miller core brands in its home market - has been mentioned more than once in this context, for example. Equally the Miller Brands existing beers are in growth still, with Pilsner Urquell up 30 per cent in volume year-on-year - although still only available in selected premium outlets. In Scotland and Ireland Miller Genuine Draft has been flying too, so much so that Miller intends to bring it into Northern England in 2011 with a big marketing push.

And then there's Kozel, which is aiming for 1,000 sites within its first year. As far as his immediate plans for 2011, he won't give details "or they'll all be doing it".

But while he's positive, Miller is anxious not to become complacent.

"If I ever sound like I'm getting cocky," he says, "that's the day I leave. We have to constantly work hard to keep everything fresh, and we're not good at everything, we find it a challenge to give every customer individual attention, for example, because we are such a small team."

'Lean but keen' is how the team comes across and what they lack in size they more than make up for in enthusiasm, agility and drive. It would be a brave punter who bets against them in a fight with the big boys.