ng product success
'Tbp of mind'
Associations, unconsciously being
able to make fast links with brand sym
bol, brand name and (possibly) colour,
are one aspect of brand recognition.
There are three forms of brand recogni
tion: 'top of mind', spontaneous brand
recognition and aided brand recogni
tion. In the first case the consumer is
asked, for instance, to mention a beer
brand. The first brand mentioned is 'top
of mind'. In most cases this will be an
old, strong and highly familiar brand of
a product that everyone knows and ap
preciates. In the case of spontaneous
brand recognition, consumers are
asked: mention all the beer brands you
know. In aided brand recognition the
consumer is shown a card with twenty
brands and then asked which brands
he knows. As an illustration: for many
years in the Netherlands Heineken has
headed the list for the 'top of mind'
method.
Reassurance
Tb maintain high brand awareness
of a product it is essential that the ma
nufacturer - in addition to paying great
attention to advertising - makes a high-
quality product and does not make any
drastic changes in the composition of
his product. If he does do that - for
whatever reason - it will dent the con
sumer's confidence in the product. For
the consumer in fact keeps on buying
the brand because he seeks reassurance
and wants to avoid risks. Mr. Heineken
on the quality of his beer: 'The product
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msut be incredibly good. You can't afford
to put something bad on the market.
Someone only needs to drink one poor
bottel of a brand and he won't want to
drink that brand ever again in his life.
As we like to say, the stability of a pro
duct has to be good'.
Heineken beer is brewed in more than
ninety countries throughout he world
and almost everywhere according to the
traditional recipe and using the best
raw materials. Aand that is exactly whe
re the great strength of Heineken lies:
the consumer from Los Angeles on a
business trip in Australia can expect
the same quality and tast of Heineken
beer as back home.
Consistency
But consistency should not be
sought solely in product quality. Over
the past decades there has been an
enormous growth in publicity outlets
within today's society. TV channels,
magazines, billboards, sponsoring: all
of them are vehicles for marketing sig
nals, including advertising. It is becom
ing increasingly difficult to profile your
self as a brand, to ensure that you are
observed best by the consumer, to sur
pass your competitors. Consistency
then becomes the keyword. Not only in
the quality of the product but certainly
also in the brand publicity.
How important consistency of the
brand is for Heineken can be seen in
the following article about the Corpo
rate Brands Design department which
acts as watchdog to ensure a consistent
image on labels, outer cartons, crates,
etc.
11
NO DEPOSIT
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN