Advertising in Africa:
making the best of what's available
Kirin delegation looked
round Amsterdam brewery
Rien Weststrate works in Heineken's corporate advertising
department. He's responsible for the advertising activities of
the Heineken breweries outside Europe. Part of his time is
spent in Africa. To be exact: in Zaïre, Cameroun, Congo,
Rwanda or Burundi. As Heineken International Magazine
found out in a talk we had with him, advertising in Africa
means making the best of what's available.
Magazines
Radio
Outdoor advertising
Local
The big Holland Village theme park near Nagasaki in Japan
is to gain a further attraction. On the initiative of Heineken
Japan and in cooperation with Kirin, a replica of Heineken's
first brewery in Amsterdam will be built as part of the new
Huis ten Bosch (royal palace) project.
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I
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 23PAGE 6
In the past we have regularly
published items in Heineken Inter
national Magazine about new TV
commercials for our brands
Amstel, Mtitzig, Heineken and
Primus in Africa. You might have
asked yourself: isn't the number of
consumers that can be reached
with those commercials much too
small. Surely, there are only lim
ited numbers of television sets
there? "The media situation in
Africa clearly differs from that in
the Western world. Europe has
a rich variety of media to offer, for
instance publicly subsidised televi
sion, local TV stations and com
mercial television. You mustn't
take the West as an example for
Africa: the two continents are as
different as chalk and cheese. It's
true that in Africa the number of
TV sets is much lower by compari
son with Europe - even though in,
say, a country like Cameroun more
than 80% of all households have
got television. But don't forget that
TVs are also present in bars and
cafes. The consumer likes to go to
a bar and watch TV there," says
Weststrate.
As regards the print media the
possibilities for the Heineken brew
eries in Africa are limited. Local
magazines are few and far bet
ween, so the only alternative is
offered by the 'pan-African'
media: the magazines which are
not linked to one country but are
distributed throughout the whole
of Africa. The quality of these
magazines is usually good enough
for the image that Heineken brew
eries in Africa are seeking for their
product presentation. Another fac
tor is that the print quality (or even
the frequency) of the newspapers
does not meet the advertiser's
requirements in most African
countries. "As an example, let me
take the only daily paper in Zaïre,
and even that isn't published every
day. For the simple reason that pub
lication of the paper is totally
dependent on the available
resources. Sometimes it's just that
there are no reels of newsprint and
so the paper can't be brought out."
Radio is vital to the breweries in
Africa for their advertising
activities. Music plays an essential
role in African life. "Africans have
a soul for music and they go in for
a great deal of dancing, with tre
mendous expressiveness. Which is
why the radio is so important to
them. That's particularly true for
the people in Rwanda, a country
which doesn't have television.
Radio is its only form of mass-
communication."
One publicity medium which is
showing strong growth is outdoor
advertising. Big billboards measur
ing 3 by 4 metres are becoming an
increasingly frequent sight along
the side of the roads. But you also
see a lot of advertising in the form
of mural paintings. An art form
that is still practised to a high stan
dard of skill in Africa. "What
always strikes me is the high qual
ity of the paintings. It's a tradi
tional handicraft that you hardly
see any more, say, in Europe. A
product can be painted so that it
looks absolutely lifelike. You can
also see this on the walls surround
ing our breweries. On those walls
the brands produced by our brewer
ies are portrayed very profession-
The photos in this article are
a good example of local input in
the production of a commercial.
The shots were taken in Brazza
ville, the capital of Congo. The TV
spot tells the story of a close-fought
soccer match. After the final whis
tle blows and the home team has
won, there is spontaneous dancing
and partying in the streets.
ally." In Zaïre advertising mate
rials for the bars are also distri
buted. Calendars and posters enli
ven the bar interiors. This form of
advertising is still very new but in
the months ahead it should become
clearly visible in Zaire's capital
Kinshasa and surrounding areas.
In setting up an advertising cam
paign Rien Weststrate tries to use
the services of as many local busi
nesses as possible. Sometimes it is
not possible to stick to this general
rule, for instance where the print
ing techniques are not available
locally for the high-quality
printwork that Heineken demands,
or if there are no recording studios
for making a commercial.
The creative input in every cam
paign is 'home grown'. The basic
concept for a commercial in Zaïre
therefore originates from the adver
tising agency in Kinshasa. How
ever, this policy cannot always be
implemented. It's difficult to
recruit well-trained advertising
people locally, as advertising is
still in its infancy in many African
countries.
The work of the local advertis
ing agency involves much more
than just providing the creative
input. In the phase before the com
mercials are filmed, the agency
looks for suitable models and bit-
players and suitable shooting loca
tions.
During the actual filming the
agency mainly takes charge of
logistics, catering, transport and
building the scenery.
If a job can be done well locally,
then let's have it done locally.
That's the universal guiding princi
ple for Heineken. It helps boost
As part of the preparatory work,
a delegation from Kirin (the brew
ery which brews Heineken beer
under licence for the Japanese mar
ket) visited the Netherlands some
time ago, accompanied by the
team of architects retained for the
project by Kirin. The things they
looked at included the brewing hall
in the Amsterdam brewery, the
museum goods store, the interiors
of several cafés and other promi
nent aspects in the area of decor.
The delegation was given
a guided tour by H. van Hoog-
dalem of Heineken Advertising
Services, who is helping with the
commitment and motivation, helps
build up advertising know-how in
the country. And it's good for the
local economy.
work on the interior of the new
replica brewery, and W. van Ingen,
of the Heineken Civil Engineering
Bureau, who is focusing more on
the structural design of both the
interior and the exterior.
At this moment both parties
(Kirin and Heineken) have almost
reached agreement and the defini
tive plans are expected to be
approved by Holland Village early
in 1990. Almost immediately after
that, a start will be made on build
ing the brewery. Two years later the
building should be ready and it will
then serve as a museum plus café
and restaurant.
The delegation from Japan in the brewing hall of the former Heineken
brewery in Amsterdam. Extreme left, W. van Ingen of the Civil Engineer
ing Bureau. Next to him, H. van Hoogdalem, who works for Heineken
Advertising Services.
