Coors move leaves 120 jobs at risk

Coors Brewers’ 120-strong marketing team is bracing itself for redundancies as the brewer embarks on talks with its employees about changes at its Burton-on-Trent head office following the merger between Coors of the US and Canada’s Molson to form Molson Coors.

Coors, the UK’s second-biggest brewer with about 21 per cent of the market, has started consultations. The UK marketing team is responsible for brands including Carling, Coors Fine Light and Grolsch.

Senior members of the Coors marketing team include Carling brand director Des Johnson; premium brands director of marketing David Preston; Grolsch brand director Andy Cray; insight and innovation director of marketing Mark Flavell; and director of innovation Dave Griffiths.

A spokeswoman for Coors in the UK says: “We will be consulting employees over the next few months regarding proposed changes to how we run some head-office functions. Until this consultation is completed, no decisions will be taken or announced. The marketing department is one of the teams with which discussions are taking place.”

The spokeswoman adds that it is far too early in the process to say whether there would be any changes to the company’s advertising and media assignments. Currently, The Leith Agency handles the main brands Coors Fine Light Beer, Grolsch and Worthington’s, while media buying is by Vizeum. Molson has no agency of record.