Advertising
German-born brewer K.W.
Forster did not speak one
word of French in 1972 when
he first set foot on the island of
New Caledonia, the French
overseas department in the
Pacific. That is one of the fac
tors he blames his slow start
on. It took him several years
to learn the language properly
and to get used to the customs
of the country. But from 1977
things picked up speed. Under
his leadership GBNC (Grande
Brasserie de Nouvelle Calédo-
nie, 87% Heineken-owned)
has been able to increase its
sales fivefold in the space of
ten years.
Colourful mixture
Amigo
Burrows Lightbourn
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NO. 18 PAGE 5
WStmÊÉÊÊÈt
Number One and Amigo
success products for GBNC
beer is placed at the back of the
shelf, so that the slightly older stock
is sold first.
Burrows Lightbourn uses various
types of media to sell Heineken
beer. It advertises both in the printed
media and on radio and television.
For the television spots the importer
targets its Heineken advertising as
much as possible at the time be
tween 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. when the
local TV station ZBM broadcasts the
popular local news show as well as
some high-audience-rating series
and CBS News.
Burrows Lightbourn also tries to
reach the consumer in other ways.
Much success was achieved by the
importer with a special campaign it
held last year in which people who
bought a Heineken six-pack in the
supermarkets and grocery stores
were given the chance to buy a
Heineken sports bag or an insulated
picnic box for a ridiculously low
price. Richard Hartley, director of
Burrows Lightbourn: "That was a
great success. Afterwards it turned
out that we'd not bought in enough
bags or cool boxes. Last year, for the
first time ever, there were fewer
tourists on the island than expected
and that affected the beer market.
But, thanks to the campaign, we
were still able to maintain our sales
volume."
Special actions targeted on the
on-premise sector are also arranged
by Burrows Lightbourn. Last year a
very successful campaign was
launched among bartenders. They
were asked to collect Heineken
crown corks in special Heineken
cups. Each full cup entitled to a lot
tery ticket. With these tickets mar
vellous prizes could be won. The
first prize was a trip for two to Lon
don. The winners of the second
prize could go to New York.
Moreover lots could be drawn for
numerous Heineken jackets,
watches, pens and T-shirts.
Richard Hartley looks back with
contentment on the campaign,
which positively boosted the sale of
Heineken beer. He is therefore seri
ously contemplating a repeat of the
campaign this coming summer.
rmuda's main tourist attractions.
- sports which are regularly spon
sored by Amstel. Via Malcolm Gos
ling Sr. (formerly President of Gos
ling Brothers, and meanwhile retir
ed) contacts were established last
year with one of the many golf clubs
on the island and the Amstel Golf
League was set up. It has now com
pleted its sixth season and the popu
larity of the competition is growing.
During the winter months Gosling
Brothers focus on the Amstel Rugby
League. The Amstel Player of the
Week and the Amstel Player of the
Season are also chosen. Activities
which boost the brand recognition of
Amstel. Charles Gosling has this to
say about the sponsoring of rugby:
"We were really lucky with this
offer. For a favourable price we've
been able to create tremendous pub
licity for Amstel. The sport fitted the
brand image perfectly."
Mr. Forster feels that the key to
this success was a combination of
factors. The fact that he started to
feel at home in New Caledonia was
not the only reason for the sudden
growth. "We have set up a good sell
ing organisation and marketing
department and have greatly improv
ed our distribution. We've also been
very busy improving the quality of
our beer", says Mr. Forster. That
beer is called Number One. This pil-
sener lager is available in litre
bottles, 58 cl bottles, in kegs and -
since recently - in (33 cl) cans.
Over the past five years the beer
market on New Caledonia has
changed. The island (surface area
20,000 square kilometres) has about
160,000 inhabitants and enjoys a
sub-tropical climate. The population
consists of a colourful mixture of
races, and this has its consequences
for the beer market. For instance,
the French settlers from Europe still
prefer a glass of wine with their
meal. The other population groups
are more interested in beer. And that
interest is growing.
A new trend in the New Caledo
nian beer market is the strong
increase in demand for canned
drinks. GBNC has responded to this
trend by installing a canning line
with a filling capacity of 12,000
cans an hour. The engineering of the
canning line was handled by Heine
ken Technisch Beheer. HTB also
provided assistance by supervising
the installation of the line, which
took place some six months ago.
The canning line is not only used
for Number One. GBNC also produc
es soft drinks. Pepsi Cola and
Schweppes are canned under li
cence. In addition, GBNC produces
its own soft drink brand Amigo.
This product was developed in 1978
by Mr. Forster personally. In New
Caledonia he could see a sunny
future for an orange-flavoured soft
drink without artificial colours or
preservatives. Mr. Forster developed
both the product and the pack design
for Amigo, organised a large-scale
launch programme and saw his
'brainchild' capture a 20% share of
the soft drinks market within one
year. Meanwhile the range has been
extended and now includes the
varieties Amigo apple juice, grape
fruit juice (destined for Martinique,
France's other overseas department)
and Amigo Tropical.
Amigo also sponsors local events. Here, the Amigo-sponsored annual stage
race over 1,100 kilometres.
prefers to use. The Burrows employ
ees even make sure that this system
is continued in the supermarkets.
The delivery men are in fact obliged
to put the cases of Heineken on the
shop shelves themselves, as the
supermarkets have a shortage of
storage space. Burrows Lightbourn
is not unhappy about this arrange
ment, as it means that they can
always guarantee a good quality of
beer. The new batch of Heineken
Each week a small container fill
ed with bottled and canned Heine
ken arrives in the port of Hamilton.
It definitely has to be a small con
tainer, for the big ones are not suit
able for traversing the narrow, wind
ing roads. The employees of Bur
rows Lightbourn, the importer of
Heineken beer, keep a close watch
on the maintenance of the first-in
first-out system, which Heineken
The Amstel importer also actively
sponsors sporting events. Golf and
rugby are the - locally very popular
