The Heinekei
name gets ar
Five breweries producing Heineken and Dreher brands foster new
beer trend
Market impact of quality and technical expertise
The motorways of Italy now carry the Hei
neken name! Since the beginning of this
year long distance delivery trucks have
been advertising the brand name along
the many autostradas.
In just five years the Heineken
operation in Italy has grown from
a technical consultancy to full-scale
production shared by five
breweries and backed by a nation
wide sales and promotion
campaign initiated and
implemented by a Milan head
quarters.
This CONTACT visit report out
lines, against Alpine and
Mediterranean backgrounds, the
organization, administration and
day-to-day working of a
progressive commercial enterprise.
Windmills, those unmistakably Dutch
identity symbols, are now familiar in all
parts of Italy. Their arrival two years ago
signalled a long term wind of change.
Features of a colour poster campaign laun
ched throughout the country, they domi
nated a rural background while giving
added significance to a glass of Heineken
beer that stood, delectably frosted, in the
foreground. In the heat of an Italian sum
mer that beer certainly looked highly
attractive.
The message was not lost, it seems, on the
promoters of other brands. Appearance of
the Heineken poster was quickly followed
by displays advertising the virtues of rival
beers. Their rapid response to a Heineken
initiative was more significant in Italy
than it might have been elsewhere. It
underlined a growing awareness that the
country's drinking habits are taking on a
new pattern, slowly, perhaps, but
nonetheless changing. In a country
traditionally noted for three major loves,
wine has always come first. But now,
however gradually, an increasing number
of Italians are discovering the virtues of
beer as the most effective way of
quenching their thirst.
Natural products
This discovery is being energetically
encouraged. Apart from the publicity pro
grammes of individual brewers, a power
ful national campaign is sustained by the
industry as a whole. Last year it reached a
peak of intensity, with advertisements ex
tolling the qualities of la birra throughout
the entire range of Italian media - in daily
and weekly newspapers, in sporting and
political journals, in magazines, in
cinemas and on television. The message
was that beer is a drink for every occasion
and the ingredients are essentially pro
ducts of Nature. Words and illustrations
were all cleverly combined to give point
to the slogan - 'Birra e sai cosa bevi'
(roughly translated - 'Beer and you
A wind of change
in wine-loving Italy
«1
Tfinekea Beer.
The brewing house al Pedavena
4
