Mr. Rodney Habbershaw is still getting used to riding his bike through Amsterdam. He sees a bright future for his department: 'Export still offers us a world of opportunities. of change in the beer world is picking up speed all the time. Consumers are being confronted with new or rediscov ered beer types and tastes, new pack forms are being developed, changes are occurring in the role of the trade, auto mation is making headway in all sorts of sectors, and so on.' Marketeers Within such a changing world the role of marketing is, in Mr. Habber- shaw's view, becoming more and more important. 'I think that the export man agers, besides being traders, ought to become marketeers more and more. Here we shouldn't just think about de veloping new brands and products, but above all about optimising the perfor mance of our existing brands. For example, take a brand like Amstel. It has a good international position and is flexible enough to permit different positionings in different markets. Heineken and Amstel can operate excel lently together in one market. Both brands have a distinct personality.' 'I am also convinced that Amstel Light has a bright future. The interest in light products which emerged in the United States several years ago is spreading to other continents. For the same reason we can also see many pos sibilities for our newly developed non alcoholic beer Buckler. We'll still need much effort to get Buckler on the mar kets world-wide, but the product is a superb supplement to the total range. But, incidentally, all this attention for other beer brands doesn't mean that the role of Heineken and Amstel will di minish. I still see enormous growth po tential for these brands. Honestly, we still have a whole world of opportunities and I have no intention of letting them slip by!' Motivation Mr. Habbershaw acknowledges the vital importance of a good relationship with agents, importers and distributors: 'They represent the Heineken concern and they have helped to make our brands develop so strongly. It's there fore our job to continue to support and motivate them. They have to understand what we want, but we certainly also have to understand what they want!' Fact-finding on local markets, get ting to know customers better, moving closer to the customer, and constantly working to improve the standard of our service to customers. A newly de veloped order handling and processing system is currently being implemented with the aim of speeding up and impro ving the route between brewery and customer. All these are areas of atten tion for Mr. Habbershaw. The new Export Director wants to pass on his confidence in the Heineken company to his customers. 'Confidence breeds success. To create confidence you need good communication. Com munication within the company but also with customers with the aim of ensuring that all-important interaction with them.' Balance The strong growth in the number of participations, particularly in Europe over the past fifteen years, has scarcely had an influence on Heineken Export's results, believes Mr. Habbershaw. 'Ex port has intensified its focus on other markets and has decentralised a part of its activities so that it can operate closer to the market. Working from local branches in Australia, Switzerland, Sin gapore and on Curasao is therefore be ginning to bear fruit.' 19 THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

World of Heineken | 1989 | | pagina 19