Operational Review (continued)
Innovation
14
These steps are vital for the health of the brand, as is
providing direct consumer experiences via one of the world's
most comprehensive brand sponsorship portfolios. The
biggest of these is our sponsorship of the UEFA Champions
League. The Heineken brand is now in its fourth year of
sponsorship with year-on-year increases in awareness and
greater numbers of consumers becoming more involved in
the elements we create. In 2009, we received 2.5 million
hits on the Star Final website, we took the UEFA Champions
League Trophy 'on tour' to more than 75,000 consumers
in four markets in Africa, with a total media reach of 260
million people. In addition, we provided hospitality for
consumers, customers, suppliers and business partners
at the Final itself in Rome and were able to show them
first-hand our new brand identity.
It is not only Europe's premier football tournament around
which we create consumer experiences. We also sponsor
Europe's second major sporting event, the Heineken Cup,
European rugby's club championship. Now in its tenth year,
the tournament gives the brand a unique and identifiable
association with this major international sport. Both the UEFA
Champions League and Heineken Cup rugby benefit from
significant media exposure with millions of consumers
exposed to one or both events during the year.
Consumer communication though is now much more than
only television. For many years the Heineken brand has had
a strong and engaging online presence. In 2009 we invested
in a new online presence, developing a more interactive
digital strategy fully integrated with the brand's activities.
In November, we launched our new, significantly upgraded
Heineken.com consumer site.
Profitable, consumer-focused innovation across the Heineken
brand and our wider portfolio continues to be an essential
part of driving volume growth and consumer preference.
To facilitate innovation platforms, we have established a
cross-functional, cross-regional team of 40 people to drive
concept identification and development faster and in a more
integrated way. So far, the team has developed 37 initial
proposals, of which seven have been chosen for progression.
The innovation team has also improved the methodology
and techniques for developing consumer understanding
and insight and linked this much more closely to the
innovation process.
We continued to drive the roll-out of our key, recent
innovations: Heineken Extra Cold, DraughtKeg, BeerTender
and David. Extra Cold was again a driver of growth with
approximately 16,500 new installations bringing the total
number worldwide to approximately 84,900 and the total
number of markets to 116 countries. During the year five
new brands were added to the DraughtKeg range. In total,
DraughtKeg is now available in seven brands and in 2009
accounted for 529,000 hectolitres. To support the right
consumer experience, new DraughtKegs now come with a
built-in temperature indicator to inform the consumer when
the perfect temperature is reached. BeerTender sold more
than 170,000 appliances during the year and after the
introduction into Russia, is now available in 12 markets and 15
brands. We continued to invest behind the David system, the
Annual Report 2009 - Heineken N.V.
