AMSTEL CANADA LAUNCHES
LAKER, ATRUE CANADIAN BEER'
Heineken cycling club
visits Pedavena
neken
For the past two years Heineken beer has been brewed
under licence in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican's unfamiliarity
with Heineken and the comparatively wide price difference
between Heineken beer and local brands meant that sales
growth was too low. But that's now going to change. Over the
past six months preparations have been made to reintroduce
the Costa Ricans to Heineken beer.
Film festival
Cooperation
"A true Canadian beer" is how marketing manager Peter
Dadzis of Amstel Brewery Canada describes the new Laker
brand.
The new lager was put onto the market several months
ago in Ontario Province by Heineken's Canadian operating
company. Development work on this new beer took seven
teen months.
Names
Packaging
Investments
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 15 PAGE7
Sleeves rolled up for
Heineken in Costa Rica
Early July brought the start of an
ambitious publicity and promotion
campaign aimed at the trade and
the consumer. On 1st July the 350-
man sales and promotions team of
our partner Cerveceria Costa Rica
held a meeting in San José, the
capital city of Costa Rica. Under
the motto 'Heineken y yo, hacemos
equipos' (Heineken and me, we're
a team) the sales representatives
were informed about the new
campaign, whilst an audio-visual
presentation about Heineken in the
world and in Costa Rica was given
by Mr. J.G.C.M. Janssen, area
marketing manager for the Carib
bean and Central America.
Mr. Janssen describes the new
approach: "The campaign consists
of three elements: motivating the
sales force, re-activating the trade,
and starting up a new advertising
and promotional campaign based
on the message 'Heineken, porque
te la ganaste' (Heineken, because
you deserve it)." Mr. Janssen gave
his presentation only five days after
Holland had become European
football champions. Since soccer is
Costa Rica's national sport, Mr.
Janssen was greeted with loud
cheers. "I felt like I'd actually been
one of our team playing in
Germany."
The advertising campaign
comprises publicity on TV and
radio, on billboards and in cinemas,
in newspapers and magazines. Last
month there was also a festival of
Dutch cinema films in San José and
that gave an excellent opportunity
for screening the new Heineken
commercials and for a Heineken
feature film to included in the
preliminary programme.
The trade was supplied with
The 350 sales and promotions repre
sentatives of Cerveceria Costa Rica
during the launch of the new
campaign.
extensive promotional material and
was informed about the publicity
efforts that will be devoted to
Heineken in Costa Rica over the
next eighteen months.
An exclusive Heineken promo
tion is now being held, targeted at
consumer, trade and sales repre
sentatives. The first prize is
certainly attractive: the winning
consumer - together with his local
bar owner and the salesman for that
district - can fly off to Europe for a
one-week holiday. In the Nether
lands they will of course visit one
of Heineken's breweries. Mr.
Janssen: "A consumer promotion
exclusive to Heineken is unique in
Costa Rica, where our partner
holds a monopoly position.
Cerveceria Costa Rica was only
accustomed to a general promotion
of beer drinking, with the various
brands all being treated more or
less equally. The premium chracter
of Heineken beer was not brought
enough to the fore in such
campaigns."
The re-introduction of Heineken
beer in Costa Rica is being accom
panied by a unique form of cooper
ation between two of Heineken's
international partners. The Heine
ken brand manager in the Domini
can Republic, Mr. Francklin Léon,
has been temporarily detached to
Costa Rica to supervise all the
activities. "Our international
position is clearly bearing fruit
here. Heineken beer has been on
the market in the Dominican
Republic for three years. After
some initial difficulties Heineken
beer is now growing strongly in the
Dominican Republic. The experi
ences gained there are now being
put into practice in helping to
develop our market in Costa Rica.
A sort of international cross-fertili
sation which is highly appreciated
by all concerned", says Mr.
Janssen.
Much effort is therefore being
made to ensure success for Heine
ken in Costa Rica, as this may have
a ripple effect towards the other
Central American countries where
Heineken is as yet hardly
represented. For Cerveceria Costa
Rica the brewing of Heineken beer
is important. It is the only Central
American brewery which brews
Heineken and it is proud of the fact.
For if you are granted a licence to
brew Heineken, you know for sure
that your brewery's technical
facilities are excellent.
Mr. Janssen during his presentation
to the sales force of Cerveceria Costa
Rica.
After 1205 kilometres, divided
into eight stages, fourteen cyclists
and three helpers from the Heine
ken cycle touring club Alweerweg
in 's-Hertogenbosch arrived at the
Dreher brewery in Pedavena on
Thursday 9 June. The journey
down to Italy, which had been
preceded by a year of preparations,
was the climax in a series of
activities being organised by
Alweerweg this year to mark the
club's ten-year anniversary. The
trip to Pedavena was gruelling.
The Austrian Alps in particular
brought some steep climbs. And
yet, only one day after their arrival,
the cyclists were back in the saddle
again for a tour around the
countryside near Pedavena. On the
journey through that beautiful
region Alweerweg was accom
panied by the local cycling club.
Until a short time ago the
products brewed by the Amstel
Brewery in Hamilton included
Amstel, the locally popular Steeler
brand, and Grizzly, a Canadian
beer brand destined for export to
the United States. The marketing
department wanted to balance the
product portfolio so as to offer a full
range of beers. It had to be a beer
which was fully in line with the taste
preferences of the Canadian
drinker (smooth and slightly sweet)
so that it could compete effectively
on the Ontario beer market.
"We started off with a completely
blank sheet of paper. We had no
name, no product, no target group
and no specific taste attributes. We
called it 'Project White Paper'",
says marketing manager Peter
Dadzis. A committee of four
specially set up to develop the new
beer got down to work in January
1987. Whilst many brews were
being tested in the brewery,
marketing staff investigated what
group of drinkers the new brand
should be targeted at, what name
should be given to the new beer and
what the packaging and advertising
activities would have to look like.
Finding the right name was one
of the most difficult aspects of all
the preparatory work. "At one
moment we had written down a list
of more than 450 names", explains
Peter Dadzis. Fifteen sheets of
paper filled with possible names.
Ultimately, five names were left
over. "It had to be a name that is
easy to pronounce, easy to
remember and would not embar
rass anyone in saying it. Besides
that, it had to be a neutral name so
that we could build up an image
aroun^t", says Peter Dadzis.
Whitts, York, Heartland, Laker,
Griffs and Hart were the six names
on the committee's shortlist. After
lengthy discussions and consumer
research, the committee selected
the name Laker as the one which
best fulfilled all the conditions.
Packaging and advertising, just
like the name, are essential
elements in the effective marketing
of a new beer brand. About 25
proposals were put forward for
Laker's design. Eventually it was
decided to choose a silver and gold
label, with the word Laker written
in such a way that it creates an
impression of sparkling, splashing
water. (Laker is derived from the
word lake. Ontario Province is
famous for its many lakes).
To guarantee sufficient brewing
capacity for the extended range,
Amstel Brewery Canada made
substantial investments in expand
ing and modernising the brewery.
New fermentation and storage
tanks were installed, plus new
bottle washing equipment. Thanks
to these adaptations, the annual
output has been increased from
200,000 to 300,000 hectolitres.
13rclicr