Sales of Murphy's Stout
take off in
the United Kingdom
Heineken small
but premium
Restyling
for Amstel beer
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 27 PAGE 6
Sales of Murphy's Stout have soared in the United Kingdom
and it looks as if they will continue to pick up speed. Four years
ago a cautious start was made with the introduction of Mur
phy's Stout in some sixty pubs. Now the black beverage is
available in ten thousand pubs.
Back in 1951 the Kim Fa company was set up by Mr Lisfa
Liu Sing with the help of his wife and brother. Kim Fa became
an import and wholesale business for food, drinks and related
products. Heineken beer was one of the products that featured
on the list of its supplies. Now, more than a quarter of a century
later, Heineken beer is a prominent beer in Tahiti's premium
segment. Prominent for the Liu family, but also prominent
thanks to their efforts.
Small and simple
Give aways
Liu family active for Heineken on Tahiti
for more than a quarter century:
Murphy's general manager
Michael Foley is highly satisfied
with the way things are developing
in the U.K. He is particularly pleas
ed about the dedication and enthu
siasm shown by Whitbread in pro
moting the product. For the past
few years Whitbread, the British
brewery group which also produces
Heineken lager under licence, has
been responsible for implementing
Murphy's distribution, sales and
advertising policy in the United
Kingdom.
Whitbread have produced a
commercial. The product's Irish
origins are clearly put across via an
unusual twist in the commercial.
Briefly, the storyline involves two
men in New York who want to go
out for a beer after work. The white
man tries to convince his black col
league that Murphy's Stout is a
great beer, one he knows from his
home country. The twist at the end
of the commercial is that the black
colleague had discovered Murphy's
Stout much earlier.
The commercial has been a great
success in Britain. At the moment a
new campaign is being devised. In
these new commercials the empha
sis will be clearly focused on the
care that has to be devoted to the
product in the pubs. Michael Foley:
'We want to tell consumers that
they should ask for a qualitatively
well-tapped glass of Murphy's
Stout. They should even demand it
of the landlord!' The three com
mercials feature the three rules for
dispensing a good glass of Mur
phy's: the right temperature, the
correct angle for filling the glass
and, lastly, the time needed after
dispensing before the beer is ready
to serve.
Today a quarter of a million hec
tolitres of Murphy's Irish Stout is
consumed in Britain each year.
Strangely enough, as a result of the
introduction of Murphy's, the U.K.
stout market has increased by as
much as 8%. So, the growth of
Murphy's is not being achieved at
the expense of its big rival.
To give a further boost to aware
ness of the Murphy's brand name,
much money and energy is being
spent on sponsoring a major golf
tournament. For the first time this
year the tournament will form part
of a European tour circuit con
tested by big-name professional
golfers. The tournament is named
after its main sponsor: the Mur
phy's Cup.
The tournament is attractive for
the professional players, as it car
ries a first prize of as much as
45,000 pounds. What's more, the
golfer who gets a hole in one at a
certain hole can look forward to an
extra prize made available by Mur
phy's: he wins the quantity of Mur
phy's Stout that can be brewed in
one hour. According to Michael
Foley, that works out at some
12,000 pints!
But Foley is looking further,
beyond the United Kingdom. He
can see many more possibilities for
his stout: for instance in the French
region of Brittany. This month a
Celtic festival was held in Brittany.
During that festival Murphy's
Stout was introduced by Fran?aise
de Brasserie, Heineken's French
operating company. 'Our people in
France are very enthusiastic about
the product and they can really see
it catching on in Brittany', asserts
Michael Foley. 'Each day two fer
ryboats from Ireland arrive in Brit
tany. All those Irish tourists drive
through Brittany. It's good if they
regularly catch sight of a Murphy's
sign outside the roadside inns.'
And Foley can see even more op
portunities for Murphy's Stout.
One thing is sure: the product's
quality forms no obstacle to Foley's
aims for market expansion. The
product he he has to offer is one he
can be proud of everywhere.
Those early years on Tahiti were
not easy either for the Liu family or
for Heineken. The locally brewed
Hinano beer was (and is) extremely
popular and, with a 90% share,
holds by far the biggest part of the
market. The remaining ten per cent
are divided between more than ten
premium brands. In this segment
Heineken beer is the biggest brand.
Mr Liu describes that initial
period: 'We started small and very
simple. Heineken was an unknown
brand on Tahiti and we faced a lot
of competition. Very slowly
Heineken became more widely
known and built up an important
niche in the premium market. Ta
hiti today is an interesting market
for Heineken, but sales are very
small compared to those of the lo
cal brand.'
Four representatives are em
ployed by Kim Fa to sell Heineken
beer. Three of them visit the shops
and only one visits the licensed out
lets, which proves that shops are by
far the most important sales outlets
for Heineken (and for other alco
holic drinks).
Mr Liu does not expect sales of
Heineken to climb spectacularly in
the years ahead. 'The market is sta
ble. Each year some 80,000 tourists
visit us, but any increase in that
number will have no influence on
sales of Heineken beer. Most of the
tourists (usually from the United
States, ed.) come to Tahiti for a few
days and so they just want to sam
ple the local food and drink and not
the products they know from back
home.'
Several years ago Mr Liu retired
and handed over the day to day
running of Kim Fa to his son Au-
gustin. His style of working differs
completely from that of his father.
Liu senior recalls the past with a
touch of nostalgia: 'My son studied
marketing at school and he goes in
for a great deal of advertising. In
my time I did things differently. If I
didn't manage to sell the beer, I
gave it away to make people famil
iar with the name. I wonder
whether that would still work to
day. But that's how we went about
it in the early days. And it worked
well!'
Amstel beer in Holland has
been given a face-lift. The body
and neck label have been
changed and also the picture on
the can has been brought into
line with the requirements of to
day. The appearance has be
come more modern, more vig
orous, with sharper lines. The
changes have been limited to
the outside of the bottle and the
can; the Amstel taste has not
been changed.
Research showed that the
new style is appreciated by the
consumer. The design has be
come more adult, thought con
sumers who were asked their
views on the new pack.
Product manager Paul
Nitschmann has this to say
about the changes: 'On the old
body label there was a lot of text
inside the logo, which meant
that the image radiated by the
brand was low. Our competitors
have moved to bigger and
sharper designs in recent years.
That means that Amstel has to
be presented much more clearly
on the shop shelves. So we re
moved all the text from inside
the circle; that's made the logo
much clearer and much easier
for the consumer to identify.'
Amstel in its new get-up has
been on the Dutch market since
the end of June.
Mr and Mr Liu from Tahiti, flanked from left to right by: E. Morham,
regional export manager, H.F.M. Coebergh and A. Oostra, Board members,
and W. Timmermans, regional marketing manager.
