152,000
of our beers
are enjoyed
around the
world every
minute
Focus on consumers and portfolios
We have continued to utilise our 'Building
Winning Portfolio' process, providing a clear
competitive advantage to our markets.
Portfolio reviews were completed in France,
Spain, Ireland, Romania and Plungary, while
another three will be completed early 2012.
A new initiative in 2011 was the creation of
the global consumer segmentation framework
that identifies the common drivers of beer
consumption in countries representing roughly
80 per cent of our turnover. This helps with our
targeting, product innovation and creation
of campaigns.
The knowledge developed in the area of portfolio
management has become an integral part of
the Marketing Capabilities training programme,
ensuring the required competencies are
transferred to marketers in our businesses
across the world.
Capability building
We made considerable investments in both
the marketing and the sales capability teams
in Global Commerce during the year. These
allow us to embed more rigorous, standardised
and professional tools and processes in the
fields of brand, portfolio, channel and
customer management.
The Marketing Capability programme has been
developed on the basis of our Brand Building
Framework - a simple three-step approach
that will establish a consistent way of working
in all geographies for all our brands:
1) Where to Play, identifying the consumer
opportunities in the market;
2) How to Win, developing consumer centric
and brand-led strategies; and
3) What to Do, defining the most effective
marketing executions.
All courses of the Marketing stream are based
on the Brand Building Framework, and provide
marketers with principles and best practices
on fundamental brand building capabilities.
The Introduction to the Brand Building
Framework, Foundations of Consumer Insights
and TV Advertising training programmes were
launched in 2011, with participant satisfaction
exceeding 95 percent.
A clear and tangible example of our commitment
to being consumer-inspired, customer-oriented
and brand-led has been the establishment
of the Global Commerce University (GCU)
in Amsterdam. This learning centre, equipped
with the most recent technology to make the
learning experience effective and engaging,
will train all our marketing and sales teams
in leading-edge consumer marketing
approaches. We have also embedded
the Rules on Responsible Commercial
Communication within the curriculum
of the GCU. All course materials are made
available on the GCU website, accessible
by all Commerce employees anywhere in the
world. They can also blog and exchange
experiences on brand building matters and
create a community based on the line: 'Only
strong brand builders build strong brands'.
Additionally, we have created a high level,
condensed, consumer insights and trends
course for all General Managers to support
them in their roles.
The Sales Capability programme is all about
winning with customers. In 2011the GCU
sales capability department developed, piloted
and started to deploy a number of priority
programmes for further roll-out in 2012.
Firstly, a sales capability assessment tool
called Sales NAVIGATOR has been developed
and implemented across Europe to identify
key development areas in sales and trade
marketing capabilities. As a result, a prioritised
roadmap of key programmes has been
developed. We have defined a global Category
Vision on how to regain growth of the beer and
cider category based on solid Consumer,
Shopper and Customer insights. This Category
Vision will be the platform for our customer
collaboration and drive joint business-planning
as a fundamental way of working. Other
programmes are Shopper Insights, Channel
Strategy, Distributor Management and
Customer Planning.
Heineken N.V. Annual Report 2011
15