SABMiller puts premium Pilsner brief out to pitch

The Anglo-South African firm wants to target 25 to 35-year-old drinkers. It is hunting a UK-based agency to oversee a global PR drive from London.

The annual budget is likely to be in the region of £350,000, and there is no current incumbent.

Pilsner Urquell sits in the premium lager sector, and the targeting of ‘discerning' drinkers will be key to the winning agency's strategy.

The beer is sold in countries across western Europe, Russia, North America and Australia.

SABMiller declined to comment on the pitch, but PRWeek understands it is being handled out of Pilsner Urquell's international brand office in Woking.

A shortlist is believed to have been drawn up, but the process is thought to have taken some time due to the number of agencies contracted to rival lager briefs.

The winning agency's fees will be paid out of SAB­Miller's £2m marketing war chest, created to fund the brewer's marcoms until the end of the year.

Pilsner Urquell is one of a triumvirate of SABMiller premium brands. Sales of the drink, and sister brands Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni Nastro Azzurro, total more than 50 million litres a year.

SABMiller, listed on the London Stock Exchange and valued at £16bn, is the world's second largest brewer.

It is also China's biggest beer producer by volume, and last year unveiled a £50m plan to buy three more breweries in the country. It bought Foster's Indian business for a reported £60m in 2006.