WALKING THE
TIGHTROPE
March 1985
Number 3
PAGE
Magazine for Heineken
employees.
Published 4 times a year.
Contents:
Page
A bright spark
Our shock troops
Out to Mundu and back
Arie Hassink
Have experience will fly!
Walking the tightrope
In brief
3
4
5
5
6
6
A woman of strength
Readers' letters
Heineken Road Show
11 million Irish pounds
8
At many winter sports events in Italy you can often come
across a giant of a man strolling around dressed in a black,
loose-fitting overcoat, a bright red muffler or pullover
and wearing a black hat. So conspicuous that he's not a person
you can easily overlook. Many organisers of events wouldn't
want to overlook him either, as he's the man who sponsors their
race or their party. His name is Ivano Giop, an employee of
Dreher in Italy. He works for the Marketing department and
his job is to ensure that Heineken is visibly present, above all at
ski-ing events.
'iNfc
It was only in December 1983 that Grizzly beer was specially brewed for the American
market for the first time. It's a brand of our Canadian subsidiary, Amstel Brewery Canada
Ltd.in Hamilton. It soon proved to be a best-seller. But that the millionth carton would be
shipped to the U.S.A. in October 1984 - that was something no-one had reckoned on.
Grizzly's tremendous success can be seen from the fact that it took Heineken beer some 30
years to reach a sales level of one million cartons, and Amstel Light 4 years.
INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE
6
THE MAN IN BLACK
A. Ivano Giop: in the backgroundsome Pictured together with Nicki Lauda and
of the many prizes he's involved in Alain Prost both with beer mug),star guests
presenting each year. at one of the Heineken ski-ing events.
About five years ago this enormous,
amiable and very enthusiastic man had
the idea of linking the Heineken brand
name with ski-ing in Italy. Agood idea,
but not that easy to put into practice.
He started off in a very small way on
Monte Avena in the Dolomites with
the Heineken Beer Trophy. That was in
1979. A ski-ing event was held there
but it was not officially recognised.
That's when Ivano Giop decided to put
his weight behind matters. And so it
came as no surprise when the
Heineken Beer Trophy received
official recognition in 1980. That
removed all the obstacles and now
contests are held for this Trophy every
year in Pedavena, in the well-known
resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo and in
Madonna di Campiglio. All places in
the Italian Dolomites.
Ivano Giop sits in his office in
Pedavena and the room seems to be
completely filled by his enormous
frame. The walls are lined with many
photos and also posters of events which
he's helped to organise or which
Heineken has sponsored. And they
don't relate only to ski-ing. He
produces piles of magazines to show
us, hundreds of photos of himself in the
midst of well-known sportsmen, like
the racing drivers Nicki Lauda and
Alain Prost who came along as special
guests to his ski-ing event last year.
There are dozens of pictures of winners
who are offered a trip to Holland if
they come first in their event. Other
skiers whose performances are a little
less spectacular are presented with
Heineken gift articles. And rightly so,
for prizes like that make sure that our
brand is not forgotten. As long as
Ivano Giop continues to devote such
enthusiasm and effort to his work, our
brand will remain engraved in the
minds of lots of sportspeople,
newspaper readers, spectators and TV
viewers.