Heineken introduced in
Rio de Janeiro
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 27
PAGE 5
J an Bruinsma whistled up
Heineken beer sales
There's only one way to describe
the position of Heineken beer on
the Dutch Windward island of Sint
Maarten: outstanding. Heineken's
market share there has reached the
almost unbelievable level of 90%.
Our agent on that island is Jan
Bruinsma N.V. Today this firm is
headed by Tof Hofland. He remi
nisces about Jan Bruinsma and
times long gone.
'Jan Bruinsma was and still is a
legend on the island of Sint
Maarten. After working as a stew
ard on board a ship, he married a
girl from the island and settled on
Sint Maarten. His contacts with
Heineken brought him the
for the Windward
Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba.'
The first shipment comprised
one hundred cases of Heineken
beer for all three islands together.
Very soon this grew to two hun
dred, three hundred and, after sev
eral years, to as many as fifteen
hundred cases per shipment.
Hofland still has a good recoliec-
tion of the special selling tech-
niques used by Jan Bruinsma: 'Jan
was a big bloke who had his lorry
loaded up with cases of beer each
day and then set off to see his
customers together with his helper.
He put his fingers to his mouth and
gave a piercing whistle, then waited
for the customer to come out and
say how much beer he needed. If
the customer still had an unpaid
bill from the last visit, then Jan
would whistle three times. When
we went out with Jan on his rounds
for the first time, we picked up a
new technique for whistling up
trade!'
In earlier days a boat with a ship
ment of Heineken beer arrived
from Holland every six to eight
weeks. That frequency has mean
while been increased to once every
two weeks and the Nedlloyd ship
has been nicknamed the 'beer
boat'. Growth in sales of Heineken
beer on Sint Maarten is still con
tinuing and the enthusiastic team
at Jan Bruinsma N.V. have set
themselves a target for the future:
breaking through that magical barr
ier of 1 million cases.
Left to right: Messrs Drost, Luiz Eduardo Monteiro da Costa and Dorhout
Mees
On 18 June this year the long-
awaited event took place. In the
presence of various top people, in
cluding Mr J.H. Drost, a member
of the Heineken Board of Direc
tors, and Mr Luiz Eduardo Mon
teiro da Costa, president of the
Kaiser Brewery in Rio de Janeiro,
Heineken beer was officially
launched in Brazil.
The reception was crowded (570
visitors) and the governor of Rio de
Janeiro State was one of the guests
who wanted to shake the hands of
Locally brewed Heineken beer on
its way to customers in Rio de
Janeiro
the hosts. Two television stations
reported on the reception and the
local newspapers also devoted
coverage to the introduction of
Heineken beer, which is brewed by
Kaiser Rio de Janeiro.
Mr Drost and Mr Monteiro da
Costa held brief speeches, after
which there was a slide show pre
senting impressions of Heineken
throughout the world. There was a
surprise present for the guests at
the end: a cool bag containing a
bottle of Heineken and two glasses.
