Swiss get the taste
for Heineken
Birra Dreher employees spend
week with head in clouds
HIS LITTLE HEINEKEN HOME
Whitbread brewers on a three-day
visit to Heineken in the Netherlands
In Switzerland, decisions are taken after ample
consideration, and that takes time. But once such a
decision has finally been taken, all agreements are met in
full. This has been proved again in recent years when
Heineken's Lausanne office has taken an active role in
concluding agreements with various Swiss distributors.
Own office
Heineken beer 3,000 metres above sea level.
In the first week of September six
employees of our Birra Dreher
brewery in Pedavena (Italy) have
been getting together for the past few
years to devote several days to a
special pastime: a hiking tour through
the mountains. Eight days amidst the
superb natural beauty of the
Dolomites provide not only a wealth
of new experiences but also renewed
friendships which are sure to benefit
their everyday work in the brewery.
The six of them don't make it easy on
themselves. Each day they cover some
30 kilometres up and down the
mountains. Because of the differences
in altitude the days are energetic and
sometimes exhausting.The Dreher
employees spend the nights in
mountain huts. This year the six of
them plan to climb to the summit of
the Dolomiti del Brenta (the "Wine
Cask Dolomites").
Our photo shows the six employees on
mountain path No. 2, the Sella Nivea,
in the Dolomites. From left to right
the intrepid hikers are:Teresio
Bertelle, Federico Perotto, Silvano
De Lunardi, Orlando Pontin,
Guiseppe Misuzzi and RitoVito
D'Alberto.
The locals call him the "Heineken Man". And it's not surprising when you see his
house. Management trainee M. Bolland came across the Heineken Man on the
small Malaysian island of Pangkor and took the above snapshot of his home.
Everything inside, outside and around the house is adorned with Heineken
bottles. "That man is so keen on Heineken beer that he uses the empty bottles to
brighten up his home", says Mr. Bolland.The Heineken enthusiast is a boat-
builder by trade, but in his less busy moments he likes to make paintings. And do
some home decorating!
Director A. Füglistaller, of Brewery Zum Warteck (pictured left) and Heineken's
Export Director.Mr. J. van der Zee, sign the contract. Looking on are Mr. P. Meyer
(left), marketing director of Zum Warteck, and Mr. K. Brandt, Regional Export
Manager of Heineken.
For the past few months
Heineken beer has been
obtainable in the greater part
of that mountainous country. The
reasons for this success: distribution
contracts were concluded in
succession with five strong partners
who together cover almost the entire
Swiss territory.
Swiss breweries were (and still are)
quite apprehensive about competition
from imported beers. A few dozen
years ago the local breweries
subdivided the Swiss market and
made mutual arrangements not to
compete in each other's sectors of the
drinks market.The advent of foreign
beers on the Swiss market also made it
necessary for the breweries to take
action. But their combined efforts to
stem the influx of foreign beers had
little effect.Today, in fact, some ten
per cent of the four million hectolitres
of beer drunk in Switzerland is already
accounted for by imported beers.
When Heineken became active in
Switzerland ten years ago, therefore,
we encountered quite a lot of
resistance from the Swiss breweries.
Heineken was - quite understandably
- seen as a major competitor. But the
Swiss public did not take much notice
of the agreements that had been made
between the local breweries and
showed great interest in Heineken and
other imported beers.
It became clearer and clearer to the
Swiss breweries that Heineken beer
was not a competitor but more a
supplement to the range available in
Switzerland. "Heineken is a premium
beer at a premium price. We don't have
gigantic volume targets, but we
certainly would like to be available
everywhere in Switzerland", explains
K. Brandt, Regional Export
Manager.
the man who reconnoitred the Swiss
market for Heineken ten years ago
and sought out suitable distributors.
The first organisation to show an
interest in distributing our beer was
Coca Cola distributor Distrom SA,
which has the western part of
Switzerland as its market area. Over
the years Swiss breweries also started
to show an interest in Heineken and
last year the contract for distribution
in the Basle region, an important
market for Heineken, was signed by
Mr. A. Füglistaller, director of
Brewery Zum Warteckand Mr. Jvan
der Zee, Heineken's Export Director.
What role does Heineken Import SA
play in all this? "You could say that
Heineken Import serves as a sort of
control tower. Heineken Import buys
the beer from Heineken-Holland and
then sells it to the five distributors. In
addition, Heineken Import is
responsible for, say, pricing and
advertising activities; in other words,
for the overall marketing," says Mr.
Brandt.
An exchange of information was the principal aim of a visit made several months
ago by twenty brewers from the U.K. brewery Whitbread Co. to two Heineken
breweries in Holland .The group's visit to the breweries formed part of a seminar
organised by the Technical Training department of HeinekenTechnical Services.
Whitbread brews Heineken lager under licence for the British market. Apart
from lectures by Heineken staff and by the U.K. visitors, the programme also
included tours of the Zoeterwoude and 's-Hertogenbosch breweries.The British
brewers are pictured here in the Heineken brewery in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Heineken has its own office in
Switzerland, Heineken Import SA,
managed by Mr. R. Würster. He was
