Nigerians love a Heineken brew
-they can't get enough of it!
mm
KM 3b
14
The letter with the Nigerian postmark
bore just three words: Happiness, Am
sterdam, Holland.
Dutch postal officials hesitated. But not
for long. Someone soon recalled that
"happiness" was the theme of a current
advertising campaign. But whose cam
paign...? Heineken! Who else!
And that was how the first of the missives
bearing that brief but entirely identifiable
address came to rest on the doormat at
Heineken's Amsterdam head office at
2de Weteringplantsoen on the Stadhou
derskade. After an air journey of 3000
miles over land and sea.
It was the first of many. The staff at We
teringplantsoen long ago lost count. And
just as remarkable as the brevity of the
address and quick perception of the
Post Office is the enthusiasm with which
Nigerians have responded to Heineken
beer. Not to mention of course the
tremendous success of the slogan,
"There's happiness in Heineken".
A tribute from Nigeria is a tribute to be
prized. Those familiar with the country
agree that Nigerians, like the Dutch,
know and appreciate a glass of good
beer when they taste it. So it's not sur
prising that this leader among Africa's
emergent nations should present a
tremendous market for Heineken. Or
that Heineken activity there should be
continuously increasing.
The demand is in fact so heavy and
growing so rapidly that the combined
output of three breweries producing the
Star brand in which Heineken has an in
terest is insufficient to keep pace with it.
Round the clock
These breweries at Lagos, Kaduna
and Aba are producing to the limit of
their capacity with three shifts working
round the clock. Production is being
stepped up to the extent of an extra eight
million cartons by the end of this year.
Yet it will still fall short of demand by
millions of cartons.
The truth is that in the climate of Nigeria,
and given the perceptive palate of the
Nigerian, good beer is a fast selling ne-
cessity and at the present time there is
just not enough of it to go round.
Heineken's first significant entry into the
Nigerian market dates from 1946. Earlier
on the country was almost exclusively
the territory of German beers. But in the
past 30 years the Heineken share has
steadily grown.
Heineken and the United African Com
pany together are the major sharehold
ers in Nigerian Breweries Ltd. Heineken
is responsible for the technical aspect of
beer production. The three breweries
concerned are almost wholly devoted to
making Star beer, which is of course
brewed under Heineken supervision.
In addition, substantial supplies of cans
of Heineken beer have long been a sub
stantial Nigerian import. The emphasis is
on cans. Bottles are not permissible, for
past experience has shown that they
adversely affect the business of local
glass factories. Bottles although it is
obviously not practicable to redeem de
posits by returning them to Holland
are valuable local commodities. So all
imported beer has to be canned.
Cans or bottles it makes no difference
to Heineken's Nigerian market. The
sales curve goes up as fast as all the
circumstances permit.
One side effect of this is the flow of let
ters to "Happiness". It's not clear what
they're about? It shouldn't be difficult to
guess.One clue:they're not complaints!
Recently announced licence regulations
have made the position regarding beer im
ports uncertain as Contact goes to press. The
situation may be clarified quite soon.
Display preparations at a Heineken
outlet.
Préparatifs d'expositlon Heineken
Heineken comes ashore.
Heineken entre au port
The brewery at Lagos.
La brasserie de Lagos