Heineken's Continental Bond
JAMES BOND'S experience supping beer at the London premiere of blockbuster Quantum of Solace would have been very different to his drinking experience at the Amsterdam premiere.
Heineken has a global sponsorship of the new Bond film, but there are vast differences between the beer-drinking culture the brewer has been able to establish on the Continent and the one it is trying to crack over here.
Genuine café culture exists in Amsterdam, and drinkers are neither shaken nor stirred by sipping through frothing heads spouting from glasses much smaller than pints. There are also many speciality beers in Heineken's portfolio in Holland, plus an Extra Cold Heineken.
The marketing wizards behind Heineken have been trying to import such Dutch-style drinking to our shores since Heineken UK was launched in 2003.
But throw in the Dutch brewer's acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle's (S&N) roster of lagers last year and the situation becomes more complicated. Critics say Heineken and S&N's star premium lager performer Kronenbourg 1664 cannot co-exist in the same portfolio. All in all, the deal has intensified focus on the Heineken brand.
We asked Heineken brand manager Olga Rubanovskaya about the brand's prospects.
What is the plan for Heineken in the UK in 2009?
"We want to transform the quality credentials of the brand, let consumers know it is the same five per cent liquid you get anywhere else in the world [it was reformulated in 2003 and a policy of brewing it under licence in the UK was scrapped].
"We have to make sure they know Heineken is always served chilled and in branded glasses.
"We also have to ensure the price is right. The differentiation between standard lager and premium lager is not big enough. On the Continent the price can be double, and it's wrong for there to only be 20p between the two in the UK."
What role will Heineken play alongside Kronenbourg in the portfolio?
"Kronenbourg will become more of a mainstream brand by comparison. It's not a case of devaluing Kronenbourg, but of marketing Heineken as our premium proposition. We have got to make sure they each appear in carefully selected outlets that suit them."
How is the UK taking to the Continental serve, complete with fast-pouring taps, skimmers and large heads on the beer, you are trying to introduce?
"We are introducing that slowly, from the top bars down. It is in about 500 at the moment. It depends on training. Staff need to be quite skilled in order for the bar to achieve the benefits.
"Our research shows, where bars switch their Heineken to the fast-pour taps and adopt the Continental serve, the sales value increases on average by 46 per cent and the rate of sale 41 per cent."
Would Heineken Extra Cold and the speciality beers you have in Holland work here?
"When it comes to Extra Cold, is the market ready for it and is there really enough of a difference between that and Heineken, which is served cold anyway? We choose to concentrate on the quality credentials of our core product instead of introducing lots of variations."
Will your decision to focus above-the-line advertising in 2009 on take-home draught kegs detract from Heineken sales in the on-trade?
"We don't find the draught kegs compete with draught Heineken in pubs. It competes with bottles and cans bought from the off-trade."
