MillerCoors, SABMiller’s US joint venture, is hoping to take advantage of the economic slump with an offensive on rival Anheuser-Busch InBev, the US’s leading brewer.

Tom Long, MillerCoors president and chief commercial officer, said in an interview with the Financial Times that Bud and Bud Light could be “victimised” by consumers because the brands had become too used to being the default beer purchase. “They are big brands without a razor sharp position,” he said, adding that MillerCoors could win over consumers by emphasising how its brands differed to AB InBev’s, which controls half the US beer market.