When I picked the topic, Miller Brewing Company, I did not know a single thing about it other than it was a beer company in Wisconsin. Throughout my research I have learned that the Miller Brewing Company is the nations second largest brewery, it has made it through the Prohibition, Great Depression, and two world wars, and the Miller Brewing Company advertisements are a huge part of the company. My initial question when starting to research this topic was: How and why did the Miller Brewing Company start in Wisconsin, were there any major difficulties along the way, and how did it become so well known? I can partially answer this question. With the research I have I can say that yes the Miller Brewing Company had some major difficulties which were, the Prohibition, Great Depression, and two world wars. I cannot however say how difficult these events hit the company with the research I have right now. I just know that the Miller Brewing Company made it through all of these events and is still going strong today. I can also add that the founder of the Miller Brewing Company, Frederick Miller, immigrated from Germany to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and started the company here after purchasing the brewery in 1855. I could not however find in my research why he immigrated to Wisconsin out of all places. The Miller Brewing Company I learned is well known due to all of the advertisements. The Miller Brewing Company had to take into account peoples values while distributing the advertisements in order to have a successful business. I still need to find more research on how the Miller Brewing Company made it through those tough events and I plan to look in the archives to see if I can find anything on the company from those times periods. I am also going to look in the archives to see if I can find any information on why Frederick Miller immigrated to Wisconsin. After researching a little more hopefully I will have even more answers to my initial question.

The third source I am using is an article called “Miller Brewing Company” by Josh Anderson, Holly Fritz, Ahmed Harris, Joe Osorio, and Yuki Yabushita. This article talks about some weaknesses Miller went through in order to make the company stronger. A weakness that Miller had to face was advertisements offending customers and beer consumption being at a stable rate of consumption. It is almost impossible for the Miller Brewing Company to increase in consumers if the beer consumption is not increasing. In order for Miller Brewing Company to be successful, so the Miller Brewing Company needed to create advertisements to get the word out and increase business. But, the company had to take it account for peoples attitudes and values.

It is a fact that antioxidants in beer can affect eye health, consuming too much alcohol is a risk, and may cause osteoporosis (disorder when the bones become brittle and subject to fracture). This scares people away from alcohol because they do not want to get hurt. This drives the company’s business downward because less people are consuming alcohol so the business is not increasing in consumers and therefore not gaining more money. Miller shows ads on TV to promote his brewery so he can stay in business. But, advertising on TV on many different channels is difficult because Miller can lose consumers who are disappointed in Millers ad campaigns. Miller needed to find appropriate times and channels to promote his brewery. It is known that after 9/11 the US alcohol use has been increasing. This means that people are consuming more alcohol when they are depressed or stressed out. These times are opportunities for Miller to gain more consumers. Also, it is becoming known that women’s consumption rates are increasing especially at universities. This is also another possible opportunity for Miller to show advertisements/ create a new product for that specific age group.

This article provides me with a different perspective of the Miller Brewing Company. The company needs to take into account the values of their future customers while putting out advertisements because the company still needs to make a profit. It is difficult to increase consumers when the company may be losing other consumers due to disagreements in the advertisements. This article gave me some helpful information on how advertisements can help the company as well as tear the company down. It also was very useful in explaining how peoples different attitudes and values play a role in the company as well as events that happen.

This source was helpful in explaining some of the different advertisement strategies the Miller Brewing Company had to think about when putting out their campaigns to receive more business. I would have liked to see some videos or pictures of the old advertisements this company had but this source did not provide me with any. I am looking to try to find some so I can see the difference throughout the years on how they changed due to the changing environment.

Anderson, Josh Fritz, Holly Harris, Ahmed Osorio, Joe and Yabushita, Yuki. Miller Brewing Company. Print.

The second source I am using is the book “Bottoms Up: A Toast to Wisconsin’s Historic Bars and Breweries” by Jim Draeger and Mark Speltz. This book has a brief section on the Miller Brewing Company, now MillerCoors. This source talks a little bit about the Miller Brewing Company after the Prohibition because those were the company’s most successful years. The Miller Brewing Company made it through the Prohibition due to a large part to extensive brewery construction projects and national advertising campaigns. Miller took on a building program in the 1940s to boost his brewery and meet the demands of people returning from war.

The building campaigns that Miller used to help his company keep up with the demand of business led to an advertising boom that raised his promotional budget from $850,000 in 1947 to $7.5 million in 1954. This helped the company make print ads that were in the nations popular magazines. Also, they were sponsorships of radio/television shows, sporting teams, and other events. Throughout the years, Miller went from being in the top twenty largest breweries to the top ten, and is now the second largest brewery today. This could not of happened without the campaigns done by Miller.

This book provides me with a brief history of the Miller Brewing Company strategies used to boost business and become the second largest brewery. I do need to do more research on the Miller Brewing Company during the Prohibition, Great Depression, and two world wars (mentioned earlier in my second blog post) to see how the company made it through these hard times. I do believe that this book was a little too brief about the Miller Brewing Company and that is partly because it only has a small section on the topic because it is not a book directly related to the company itself, it is about all Wisconsin Breweries.

This source was useful in briefly explaining a reason why the Miller Brewing Company is so commonly known in Wisconsin, it is the second largest brewery. This source never went into depth about campaigns or sponsorships given by the company, so I would like to search more in depth on the campaigns. Also, I would still like to do more research on the tough times the company had, this source told me that the campaigns were in part a helpful reason why the Miller Brewing Company made it through the Prohibition but I need more details.

Draeger, Jim and Speltz, Mark. “Bottoms Up: A Toast to Wisconsin’s Historic Bars and Breweries.” Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Print.

The first source I am using is the Miller Brewing Company website, which is actually called millercoors.com. MillerCoors is the official name of the brewery as of today. Miller Brewing Company and Coors Brewing Company branched together in 2008 to become MillerCoors. This is a helpful site that gives some good background information on the history of the Miller Brewing Company. The Miller Brewing Company was founded in Milwaukee by Frederick John Miller in 1855 after immigrating to the United States from Germany, where he was a renowned brewer at the age of 25. In Milwaukee, Miller leased the Plank Road Brewery and later ended up purchasing the brewery in 1855 for $2,300. When Miller first started the brewery he sold draft beer because there was practically no way to bottle beer at that time. If someone wanted to take their beer with them they would have to put it in a growler, which is a tin pail. However, throughout the years Miller starts to bottle his own beer with very little production and in 1883 he was bottling his beer in his facility. Fredrick Miller died in 1888 and his immediate family continued his legacy. The Miller Brewing Company survived the Prohibition, the Great Depression, and two world wars and is still going strong today.

This website provides me with great information about the Miller Brewing Company’s history. I believe that this source is a very strong source that is helpful to me gathering information about my topic. It provides me with a timeline from 1824-2011, blog posts, and a brief history Frederick John Miller. I do not believe that this website has any false information. However, I do believe that this website is biased toward the Miller Brewing Company because the point of the website is to make people want to come and tour the brewery, or buy and drink the beer. This website would not put on any information on that would turn away the customers because they want to make a profit.

This source contributes background information on my topic. From this source I learned about Frederick Miller, the founder of the Miller Brewing Company and how the company started. This source never really explained why the Miller Brewing Company started other than Miller has always been a determined brewer even when he was young. I would like to do more research into how he got interested in brewing. I would also like to do more research into any rough patches the Miller Brewing Company went through. On the website it says that the company made it through the Great Depression, two world wars, and the Prohibition, but I do not believe that the company has been smooth sailing all these years without even a little problem. From here I would like to look into further detail about the Miller Brewing Company and hopefully find more information that can help me learn more about the company and answer my initial question.

I am interested in the Miller Brewing Company because I find it interesting how the company got started in Wisconsin and I would like to know why the company picked Wisconsin to start the business. Also, I want to find out the different things the company had to do to become so well known and do so well in business. I want to know how the Miller Brewing Company worked throughout the years. Were there times when the company had downfalls and almost closed? How did the company come back? My research question is how and why did the Miller Brewing Company start in Wisconsin, were there any major difficulties along the way, and how did it become so well known?

This question is important and worth exploring because it will help give me and others a better understanding of the Miller Brewing Company and how they have come to run their business throughout the years. It will help explain the ups and downs of the business. I do not currently have a satisfactory understanding of it as this time because I have not looked into great detail about the company and I was unaware of its existence until a few weeks ago. Exploring my research question can help me become aware of the Miller Brewing Company and inform others of their work here in Wisconsin.