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
