2 Japan's Holland Village attractive showcase for Heineken Increased sales in static market International Brasserie Cameroun Near the Japanese city of Nagasaki with its million inha bitants an exact replica has been built of an old-style Dutch village.The pleasure park attracts one-and-a-half million visitors each year. There are plans to increase the number of visitors to seven million over the next few years by adding a new section to Holland Village. This new section will be five times bigger than the existing vil lage. A 'more Dutch' look Real town A pleasure shared Kassav' The little town of Hoom seen from the deck of a full-scale replica of a 16th century Dutch merchantman. One of the many pavement cafés in Holland Village. The management of the village has meanwhile realised that Heineken parasols are part and parcel of a pavement café in Holland. All the premises in the village serve a commercial purpose. There are many restaurants and cafés, the very type of establishments in which draught beer could be sold. In the village Heineken beer was only available in bottles and cans. Kirin brand draught beer was supplied by the brewery of the same name. Since Kirin, which brews Heineken beer for the Japanese market, can also supply draught Heineken, Heineken beer now also flows from the dispensers in Holland Village. Mr.H. van Hoogdalem, of Heineken's advertising service department in Holland, travelled to Japan some time ago, cast his expert eye over the village for a week and noted down all the things that the Heineken organisation could do to make HollandVillage look even more Dutch in character. "Seen through Dutch eyes, Holland Village is just that little bit too neat and tidy. On the walls in restaurants and cafés you see hardly any decoration. We offered to get together with the managers of the pleasure park and think up some ideas for making HollandVillage look more true-to-life." Mr. Van Hoogdalem gave a detailed recommendation on how the interiors and exteriors of the catering establishments in particular could be made to look more authentic and 'more Dutch'. Specific suggestions were madesuch as propping a bike up against the front of the building, signs near the entrance with the words "volledige vergunning" (fully licensed), and typical Dutch illustrations on walls, beer taps and the like. HollandVillage and Heineken still have lots more plans up their sleeves. The intention is that, after its enlargement, HollandVillage will become a real little town with houses which are offered for rent to tourists who want to stay in the town for a longer period. "At the moment HollandVillage closes down at eight o'clock at night. In future it will become a self-contained small town with its own nightlife. A hotel will be built, and also a yachting marina. There will even be a separate railway station in old-Dutch style to cope with the influx of visitors", says Mr. Van Hoogdalem. Further cooperation is planned between Heineken and HollandVillage in the years ahead; there is already talk of a show brewery/brewing museum to be designed by Heineken's Civil Engineering Bureau. Mr. Enters (Heineken Japan, left) and Mr. Timmermans (Regional Marketing Manager) flank Mr. Nagakama, the management of Holland Village. The advertisements for Amstel have been given a complete facelift in keeping with the brand's premium character. The TV spot shows a group of people enjoying Amstel beer during a party. The Amstel message is "Amstel, plaisir raffiné, plaisir partagé" (Amstel, the finest pleasure, a pleasure shared). Not only in advertising have new activities been started.There has also been a change in the product range. In December last year the 33-cl bottle was introduced for Mützig to complete the range.The 33-cl bottles have been specially developed for the hotels, bars and catering trade. The favourable developments within International Brasserie are currently reason enough for considering the brewery's possible expansion.That would mean the second expansion in the brewery's short existence, for the first extension had already been completed prior to the official opening of International Brasserie in 1986. A good management team and a clear cut commercial policy were the factors underlying the outstanding result of sales in Cameroun over the past year". M. Lohmann, area marketing manager Africa, takes pride in the result achieved by Cameroun's International Brasseriea company in which Heineken has a 34% shareholding. "Achieving increased sales in a static market is an outstanding result." International Brasserie brews two of Heineken's brands under licence: Amstel and Mützig. The brewery started production of Mützig in December 1984. This was joined by the Amstel brand in the final quarter of 1985. In recent years sales have shown a steady growth. Since last year the efforts made by the personnel are starting to bear extra fruit, as the turnover of both brands has grown by as much as 25%. In all sorts of ways International Brasserie is busy prolonging its success. One method involves newTV commercial campaigns for both Mützig and Amstel. TVspots, radio commercials, publicity posters and calendars are the most important advertising media. A television commercial has been produced for Mützig featuring the pop group Kassav' from the Antilles. Kassav'enjoys amazing popularity in Africa, and so their contribution gives added impact to the advertising message. In the new TVspot the Mützig slogan "Mützig avec nous" has been maintained. These posters have recently become a common sight along the roadsides in Cameroun. The group Kassav', just as popular in Africa as Madonna is in Europe, pictured here during the recording sessions for the new Mützig TV comrr

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Heineken International Magazine | 1988 | | pagina 2