"We believe that consumers 'reward'
a company and a brand that promotes
responsible behaviour."
27
never encourage alcohol misuse. Our brand
communication only targets people above the
legal drinking age, never features people who
are, or appear to be younger than 25 years of age
and our advertising only appears in media whose
audience is more than 70 per cent of legal drinking
age or above.
Enjoy Heineken Responsibly
The message Enjoy Heineken Responsibly
was launched in 2004 on all bottles, cans and
packaging of the Heineken brand. In order to
help create awareness amongst consumers and
support informed decisions and choices, the
message was accompanied by a logo displaying
the 'Enjoy Heineken Responsibly' internet address.
It is now displayed on commercial communication
across many markets and forms a distinct
communication platform for the Heineken brand.
In markets such as Italy, the Netherlands, Greece
and the USA, the platform has already been used
for dedicated television advertising.
The website now appears in eight languages and
is the basis for websites being developed for other
brands in the Heineken portfolio.
Employees as Ambassadors - Cool@Work
We believe that our employees are the
ambassadors of our Company. To this end, a core,
Company-wide programme, Cool@Work provides
employees with information on the meaning
of responsibility and training when necessary.
Specific elements such as sales force training and
support for individuals who may have a problem
dealing with alcohol are also elements of the
programme. It is mandatory that all employees
are made aware of their special responsibility
as Heineken employees at least once every two
years. The Cool@Work programme is implemented
by the operating companies and supervised by our
Group Head office.
Compliance with all three strategic pillars of our
Alcohol Policy are subject to periodic audit by
our Group Internal Audit department and the
results are shared with the responsible Regional
Presidents, the Executive Board and the
Supervisory Board.
Gianluca Di Tondo
Marketing Director
Heineken Italia, Italy
Commercial communication in Italy
Responsible beer consumption
Heineken recognises the need to balance its commercial practices
with its social responsibility, having our established rules for
responsible commercial communication.
"Being responsible is not only the respect of law or launching an
advertising campaign, but it has to do with a complex programme
regarding the whole company and the company culture itself,"
says Gianluca Di Tondo at Heineken Italia. "In Italy the media and
the government are very focused on the alcohol abuse issue."
Heineken started a proactive approach in 2004 with regards to
responsible consumption building the Enjoy Heineken Responsibly
platform. In a heavily broadcasted television campaign (named
Pensaci) Heineken Italia stressed the insight that if you drink and drive,
you are not only a danger to yourself, you are a danger to others as well.
"Even when you talk about a potential negative aspect of our product,
the appropriate approach is to adopt a responsible and pro-active
attitude in order to gain credibility towards our stakeholders", says
Gianluca Di Tondo. "The research results show we strengthen our
brand equity positively."
Heineken N.V. Sustainability Report 2007
