Heineken looks to usurp Stella as top premium lager

Heineken's offensive on the premium lager market is gathering strength with a further £27m investment earmarked for 2004.

The new imported Dutch version, which was brought in to replace the flagging Heineken Cold Filtered brand earlier this year, has achieved draught distribution in excess of 1,600 outlets while more than 1,500 pubs and bars stock the new Heineken in packaged format.

It is now the UK's sixth biggest lager brand and claims to be on track to become the "most valuable lager brand in the UK within 10 years" - the brand's declared long-term goal.

Thanks to a major PR and advertising campaign, two-thirds of lager drinkers are reportedly aware of the conversion according to Richard Bradbury, on-trade sales director for Heineken UK.

"With Cold Filtered the perceptions were very low but now we're on a level with Grolsch and Becks, although we want to be above that," he said.

Heineken has set its sights on usurping Stella as the number one premium lager and has vigorously protected its price point in both the on- and the off-trade.

In the take-home sector Heineken UK is now hoping to achieve wider distribution on the back of continued advertising as well as sponsorship of both the Rugby World Cup and Team Britain at next year's Olympic Games.

"We've set ourselves a sales volume increase of 80 per cent and distribution by 70 per cent," added Mr Bradbury. "There are still a lot of drinkers that aren't aware of how Heineken has changed."

• Heineken UK is also strengthening its relationship with its standard sister brand Amstel. Amstel will now be sold alongside Heineken from January next year in an effort to offer a standard and premium package to licensees.