Burrows Lightbourn
Charles Gosling, marketing manager of Gosl
ing Brothers, in front of the big warehouse on
Dundonaid Street.
GOSLING BROTHERS LIMITED
WAREHOUSE
Each week several small container-
loads of bottled and canned Heineken
arrive in the port of Hamilton. They
have to be small, 20-foot containers, for
the big ones are not suitable for travers
ing the narrow, winding roads. The em
ployees of the Burrows Lightbourn
warehouse keep a close watch on the
maintenance of the first-in first-out sys
tem, which Heineken prefers to use. The
employees even make sure that this sys
tem is continued in the supermarkets.
The delivery men are obliged to put the
cases of Heineken on the shop shelves
themselves, as the supermarkets have
a shortage of storage space. They put
the new batch of Heineken beer at the
back of the shelf, so that the older stock
is sold first. This ensures that the cus
tomer does not buy an old and qualita
tively less good bottle or can of Heine
ken.
That limited storage capacity in the
supermarkets also has consequences
for the sales representatives of Burrows
Lightbourn. The firm has four reps.
Each representative has his own spe
ciality. One concentrates solely on
supplies to bars, another handles the
smaller hotels and small supermarkets.
The third representative is busy every
day with The Market Place Group, the
biggest supermarket chain on the is
land. 'He sometimes has to visit each
branch three times a week because the
shortage of storage space means that
they want to receive their beer and
spirits in small quantities', says Bill
Davis, who is the wine representative.
Every customer who places an order
with Burrows Lightbourn can count on
it being handled carefully and correctly.
The order (made by telephone or noted
down by a sales rep) is typed into the
computer together with the customer's
number. The computer automatically
prints out an invoice, complete with the
special deals and discounts applicable
Richard Hartley, managing director of Bur
rows Lightbourn, with the overflowing bags
of Heineken crown corks collected during a
special campaign for bartenders. The cam
paign was an overwhelming success.
to that customer. The invoice is sent to
the delivery department where the
order is put together and loaded on the
truck. Burrows Lightbourn guarantees
its customers: phone us in the morning,
and we'll deliver in the afternoon. Be
sides, the trucks also go out on Satur
days. Proof of this is provided when Bill
Davis pays a visit to the Elbow Beach
Hotel. The hotel faces the risk that it
may run out of Heineken beer and
would like to have fifty cases of bottled
Heineken delivered that same after
noon. A 'phone call from Bill to the Bur
rows Lightbourn warehouse is all that
is needed. The customer can expect the
delivery about 4 p.m. Richard Hartley,
managing director of Burrows Light
bourn, underlines the importance of
such service to the customer: 'Nothing
is too much trouble for the customers.'
Advertising and
sponsoring
Burrows Lightbourn uses various
types of media to sell Heineken beer.
With advertising both in the printed
media and on radio and television. For
the television spots Burrows Light
bourn targets its Heineken activities as
much as possible at the time between 7
p.m. and 10 p.m. when the local TV sta
tion ZBM broadcasts for a few hours
and airs the popular local news show
as well as some of the high-audience-
rating soap operas and CBS News.
As far as sports sponsorship is con-
charge twenty dollars. If those commer
cials are aired during the popular news
broadcasts, the price goes up to twenty
dollars for thirty seconds. We chose the
medium of radio because the supermar
kets on the island very often use the
radio broadcasts as in-store back
ground music. Which means we also
reach the consumers whilst they are ac
tually doing their shopping', explains
Charles Gosling. Those supermarkets
are important for Gosling Brothers, for
a large proportion of their Amstel and
Amstel Light turnover is sold via the
retail trade, though it should also be
said that Amstel Light is an excellent
seller over the bar. Particularly in hotels
and restaurants there is a high demand
for this low-calorie, low-alcohol beer.
Gosling Brothers are also sponsors
of sporting events. Golf and rugby are
the - locally popular - sports which are
regularly sponsored by Amstel. Via Mal
colm Gosling Sr. (formerly President of
Gosling Brothers, meanwhile in semi-
retirement from the day-to-day handl
ing of the company's affairs and also
president of the Bermuda Golf Associa
tion after being one of Bermuda's lead
ing amateur golf players for many
years) contacts were established last
year with golf clubs (of which Bermuda
has many) and the Amstel Golf League
was set up. The end of the season is
marked by the Ballantines Amstel Bel
mont Golf Tournament. This tourna
ment, open to both amateur and profes
sional golfers, has built up a good repu
tation on the island. During the winter
months Gosling Brothers actively spon
sor the Amstel Rugby League. The
Amstel Player of the Week and the
Amstel Player of the Year are also cho
sen. Charles Gosling has this to say
about the sponsoring of rugby: 'We were
really lucky with this offer. For a favour
able price we've been able to create tre
mendous publicity for Amstel. It fitted
the brand perfectly.'
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
