12832: Call Cavalry Time Of Death.

Advertising Age published a perspective titled, “Cavalry CEO on Losing a Major Account: Don’t Cry in Your Beer—Just Move On.” Can’t help but think that Marty Stock, the Cavalry CEO who authored the piece, is the General Custer of our industry. He’s an insensitive idiot too. After all, a lot of Cavalry troops will “just move on” to the army of the unemployed. Cavalry was assembled by WPP in 2012 to exclusively service MillerCoors, and it appears to be an Enfatico rerun. Stock admitted, “While Cavalry has existed since 2012, our relationship with MillerCoors and, before that, the Coors Brewing Co., goes back decades, spanning five CEOs and seven CMOs.” Hey, you live by Corporate Cultural Collusion and you die by it. There’s no Silver Bullet for success—even for White advertising agencies. Stock ended by declaring his battered shop won’t give up “[b]ecause staying put is simply not an option.” Especially when you lose the overwhelming majority of your revenue.

Cavalry CEO on Losing a Major Account: Don’t Cry in Your Beer—Just Move On

Relationships Aren’t What They Used to Be, but the Need to Create Drives Us

By Marty Stock

Three weeks ago, I received a call that agency folks know all too well. A regime change had resulted in the loss of a big account. MillerCoors was severing our relationship.

My first thought went to the newest clients we’ve added: PepsiCo, Tyson Foods and the American Freedom Foundation, a group helping military veterans and their families. The success of these clients will define our agency.

While Cavalry has existed since 2012, our relationship with MillerCoors and, before that, the Coors Brewing Co., goes back decades, spanning five CEOs and seven CMOs. The best agencies have always internalized the ups and downs of their clients’ brands and made a personal investment of sweat equity to ensure their clients’ success. Creating content is part of what an agency does, but an agency’s job is helping to grow a client’s business.

When Coors Light was introduced, it wasn’t in the top 20. Today it’s the No. 2 beer in America despite being outspent four to one. There are hundreds of talented people who made that happen over a lot of years. The right CMO paired with the right agency partner can transform a business. Toss in luck and several well-timed competitive mistakes, and the window for growth opens, provided you’re poised to take advantage.

Lots has been written about the demise of the Big Beer brands. It’s certainly been a tough period, but we see opportunities for growth given certain patterns evident in the business. The recent trend of agency switching by the major brewers is a clear sign of unrest and dissatisfaction with brand performance, but there’s more to it.

Both agencies and clients used to feel it was a privilege to work on the brands. It was an honor because so much had gone into building those businesses, someone’s name was on the bottle, and frequently there was a legacy of famous creative work to live up to. Now, many relationships don’t make it to three years, in part because the honor of being entrusted with the health of a brand is disappearing and with it the bond forged, because both sides knew they needed each other to succeed.

Scratch the surface of any long-term agency/client relationship and you’ll find trust. Trust in people and their integrity. Trust that the ideas are great. Trust that financials are handled fairly.

Only a couple of days after our relationship with MillerCoors suddenly came crashing down, the itch to create stuff took over and the next phase began. We may be bloodied, but we have a fierce competitive streak and a desire to prove ourselves all over again.

My final thought as all of this was unfolding was about my dad. He was in the 101st Airborne Division and the first airplane ride of his life occurred during basic training. Forty minutes after takeoff they opened the door and everybody jumped out. You couldn’t pause at the door, you went for it because staying put simply wasn’t an option.

MillerCoors is headed off in one direction and Cavalry is headed in another and we can’t wait to see what’s ahead.

Because staying put is simply not an option.

12806: Cutting Caucasian Cavalry.

Advertising Age reported MillerCoors Cut Cavalry, the White advertising agency hatched exclusively for the client by WPP in 2012. That’s a pretty short tour of duty. But it’s hardly surprising in light of the recent appointment of a new Chief Marketing Officer for the beer maker. An exclusive pitch features three secret agencies, although it’s safe to guess the shops are White. New CMO David Kroll declared, “It’s frankly just time for a change.” A new White man will pick a new White advertising agency to create a new white-bread campaign. Yep, that’s definitely a change.

12476: Drinking On The Job.

This campaign for Third Shift Amber Lager from MillerCoors was created by Cavalry and The Heads of State. Not too sure about the concept, as it appears to be advocating that late-night workers should drink the brew—perhaps instead of energy drinks? Talk about an industrial accident waiting to happen.

11520: MillerCoors 360 Lighter.

Advertising Age reported MillerCoors is cutting 360 employees in response to lousy sales. Gee, looks like calling in the Cavalry didn’t work out.

MillerCoors Eliminates 360 Jobs in Face of Weak Sales

Big Beer’s Woes Continue

By E.J. Schultz

MillerCoors is cutting 360 positions, which includes laying off 200 salaried employees, in response to the tough sales conditions facing the company and beer industry.

“To realize our ambition, we must have the financial flexibility required to seize opportunities and address challenges head-on,” CEO Tom Long and Ed McBrien, president of sales and distributor operations, said in a memo to distributors. “Given our current fixed-cost base, we can’t meet these long-term investment requirements. Simply put, our fixed-cost base is too high and our organizational structure is too complex.”

In a statement, the brewer confirmed that “approximately 200 salaried employees will be leaving the organization and another 160 open salaried positions will be eliminated.” The Chicago-based brewer employs about 8,800 people nationally. The cuts will be spread across “all functions of the company,” including sales and marketing, a spokesman told Ad Age. The cuts are meant to “help the company meet long-term investment requirements in its brands and breweries while at the same time achieve its operating margin and profitability goals.”

The distributor memo cited a “period of rapid and disruptive change” in the U.S. beer industry, including “consumer fragmentation, continued high unemployment and increased competition from wine and spirits.”

SABMiller, which holds a joint-ownership stake in MillerCoors along with Molson Coors, reported last week that MillerCoors sales to retailers fell 1.9% in the quarter ending Sept. 30, with Miller Lite dropping “mid-single digits” and Coors Light down “low-single digits.”

The brewer is hoping to spur sales next year with several new products, including Miller Fortune, a higher-alcohol line extension, as well as a citrus-flavored seasonal line extension of Coors Light, called Coors Light Summer Brew. The brewer is also expected to invest more marketing in its economy brands, including Miller High Life and Keystone Light.

11398: Cavalry The New Keystone Kops.

Advertising Age reported WPP’s Cavalry added more MillerCoors billings by snagging Keystone Light from Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi. The move would never have happened if Publicis Omnicom Groupe had been fully approved, as Omnicom is masterful at shifting unhappy clients to other sister agencies within the network. The new assignment for Cavalry covers creative and digital duties—which also shows that the Human Digital Agency is a farce. Finally, it must be noted that on the beverage totem pole, Keystone Light is barely a level above urine.

Cavalry’s MillerCoors Roster Grows with Keystone Light

The Economy Brand Had Been at Saatchi & Saatchi

By E.J. Schultz

WPP’s Cavalry has picked up more work from MillerCoors, winning creative and digital advertising for Keystone Light. The brand had been at Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi, which remains the agency for Miller brands, including Miller Lite.

WPP formed Cavalry about a year ago to handle creative and digital for Coors Light and Coors Banquet, as well as new products such as Redd’s Apple Ale. Coors brands had been at Interpublic’s DraftFCB, which lost the entire MillerCoors account, including Miller Lite, in May of 2012.

Keystone Light, which is positioned as an economy beer, is considered part of the Coors family of brands, so the move from Saatchi to Cavalry was a consolidation move, according to MillerCoors.

In recent years Keystone Light campaigns had featured a laid-back, everyday-hero character dubbed “Keith Stone.” But the brewer ended that effort this year.

Keith “worked very well for our entry-level drinker,” MillerCoors Chief Marketing Officer Andy England said in an interview earlier this year. But “the challenge with Keith is that he was frankly more polarizing with our … 30-something regular guy.” To get closer to that demographic the brand has formed a partnership with tournament fishing organization FLW.

But Keystone Light has gotten relatively little measured media support lately. Spending fell from $8.5 million in 2011 to $309,100 in 2012 and less than $100,000 for the first six months of 2013, according to Kantar Media.