Coors Brewing International has hired former Guinness marketer Jamie Lister as European marketing director with a brief to turn Coors Light into a serious rival to Budweiser in the UK.
Coors is planning to plough pounds 10m a year into the brand in Europe over the next two years, with a focus on Ireland and the UK.
Most of the UK investment this year will be in research and development, with advertising not planned until 2002. The lager is currently being test-marketed in Scotland. However, a TV execution will screen in Ireland this year, created by Banks Hoggins O'Shea/FCB, which handles the Coors brand globally.
Lister said he has no plans to review the arrangement.
Lister joins from Claydon Heeley Jones Mason where he was business director on brands such as Carlsberg, Ford and Smirnoff. Before that he was an assistant brand manager at Guinness. He replaces Rob Borland who has moved within Coors to head marketing in Asia.
Lister admitted that Coors Light, though the third-biggest beer brand in the US after Budweiser and Bud Light, and number nine in the world, did not have much of a presence in the UK.
He said the key marketing challenge would be educating consumers that the word 'Light' refers to the taste and that it is a full-strength lager.
'In the UK people tend to think of 'light' as low alcohol or low calorie, mainly because that is the position that Budweiser chose. But these are irrelevant to Coors Light. The thing that makes us believe it will be a huge brand is that it is the lightest, most refreshing tasting beer. So while it is our biggest challenge, it is also our biggest opportunity.'
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