21. boost our leading brand in some important markets, including France. On the other hand, volumes of the Amstel brand were slightly lower at year end, despite growth in the Netherlands. In some Western European markets, the increasing importance of the off-trade and the switch to lower-priced beers is pressuring pricing. We are countering the trends by improving our offer to consumers and by increasing investments in marketing. To improve our offer to consumers we created new products, focused our execution in the on-trade, invested substantially in refrigerators and improved our offering of cold beer in the on- and off-trade in most Southern European countries. We have also accelerated the roll out of various draught beer systems, such as XtremeDraught, and the DraughtKeg. BeerTender, a home-draught system for daily use was introduced in 2003 in Switzerland, in 2004 in the Dutch market and in 2005 in Austria, with great success. high-profile showcases for our products in the on-trade and by investing in new entertainment and cultural projects. These include Valencia's Greenspace event, a unique fusion of music, film, design and creative energy, and La Culture Bière in Paris, a vibrant, gastronomic and retail experience dedicated to the celebration of beer. In the existing competitive environment it is crucial to improve the efficiency of our operations. In 2005, we focused our efforts mainly on the production in France, Italy and Spain. In addition, we have conducted benchmarking initiatives in distribution to determine what restructuring measures might be needed and to help us in establishing best practice and driving performance. In 2006, we will continue to drive our cost reduction programmes, while improving organic growth and price and sales mix. The impact of restructuring and additional marketing efforts should help in supporting top-line growth and improving profitability in the long term. We are also working to bolster the image of beer as the right beverage for more occasions by supporting entrepreneurs who are creating Galaxy glasses Innovation to drive growth extends even to glassware. In the Netherlands, Heineken introduced the new 'Galaxy' glass for the on-trade. The new glass better supports a perfect draught beer and is stronger and stacks more easily. Heineken Honcho Creating a talked-about promotional give-away is a successful way to draw attention and create a positive response. Heineken in the Netherlands introduced a multi-functional promotional item, the Heineken Honcho, that can be used in both rain and sunshine. The promotional campaign resulted in a 5 percent increase in Heineken's market share of the canned beer market and a sell-out of all in-store promotional packages. Heineken N.V. - Annual Report 2005

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