Miller Brand UK loses marketing director
The marketing director of Miller Brand UK Jean-Pierre van Lin has left the company. It is not known whether he has a job to go to.
Staff were informed by an internal memo that van Lin had "left SABMiller to pursue other career opportunities outside the company".
Van Lin joined Miller Brewing, as it then was, in 1999 after spells with Heineken and Diageo. In the seven years since then, he has been responsible for SABMiller’s partnership arrangements in the UK and Ireland, developed the marketing strategy for Miller and Pilsner Urquell and launched Miller Genuine Draft across Central and Eastern Europe. Before the formation of Miller Brewing UK in 2005, he was managing director for Miller Brewing International in the UK and Ireland.
SABMiller was formed in 2002 by South African Breweries’ purchase of Miller Brewing Company, the second-biggest brewery in the US by volume, for $5.6bn (£3bn). The company has not traditionally been strong in the UK, with its four main beer brands, including Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Miller Genuine Draft, accounting for less than 1% of the market by volume.
However, last year it created Miller Brands UK in a bid to win a greater share of the UK premium lager market. Van Lin was appointed UK marketing director and given a £30m marketing budget.
