between on-premise and off-premise
outlets, depending on how sales deve
lop. However, sales of Heineken beer
in supermarkets will provisionally re
main modest, chiefly because of the
big price difference between
Heineken and the local beers. As an
illustration: half a litre of local beer
costs 50 forints on average, 33 cl of
Heineken retails at 100 forints.
Visibility
Jon Cannon feels that one of his
most important tasks is to achieve a
strong increase in the visibility of
Heineken beer within a short space of
time. Mainly he is thinking in terms of
several Heineken outlets at strategi
cally interesting locations in
Budapest. The brand's visibility can
not be boosted via advertising
because of the Hungarian govern
ment's ban on advertising for alcoho
lic drinks. The new Media Act which
is about to be debated in parliament
might perhaps mean some libera
lisation, but Cannon does not plan to
wait for government approval to come
through. The high-visibility outlets
radiating the Heineken image of qual
ity are therefore seen by Cannon
Cannon feels that the growth in out
lets selling draught Heineken beer
must remain limited. "We are strong
ly emphasising sales in bottles, as the
packaging is our best advertising.
Draught beer simply happens to be
much more anonymous."
Up-market image
Budapest has some 2,200 on-pre
mise outlets. Intercooperation aims to
be present in 15% of these outlets
within one year. Cannon keeps a
close watch to make sure the outlet
has the right image. "We want to be
in the top end of the market." Cheap
street-corner bars which earn their
money from selling local brews will
definitely not be getting a visit from a
Heineken representative.
In its efforts to push up sales of
Heineken beer, Intercooperation is
not playing all its cards in Budapest.
Specifically the tourist area around
Lake Balaton is being targeted. This
70-kilometre-long lake is attracting
more and more tourists from the West
and in the summer months the hotels
and camping sites around the lake are
packed with holidaymakers. Cannon
believes that a Heineken outlet on
The 'Heineken team' in Budapest. From left,
György Hóger (sales rep), Jon Cannon,
Laszló Dabrónaki (sales rep) and (fore
ground) Julianna Földesi, who handles
sales administration. Not pictured is sales
rep Gabor Ispansky.
One of Budapest's tourist
attractions is the Fishermen's
Castle.
more as an advertising and PR instru
ment than as a means of pushing up
sales.
The logical consequence of this
strong emphasis on visibility is that
draught Heineken beer is not high on
Intercooperation's list of priorities. In
May this year its customer base inclu
ded only five draught outlets, by the
end of the year there should be thirty
of them. (For comparison: 65% of all
outlets in Budapest sell keg beer.) But
Lake Balaton is an excellent means of
boosting brand awareness and also of
generating sales, even though such
an outlet will only be open for four to
five months a year.
Future
The future of Heineken in
Hungary, says Cannon, will depend
entirely on economic developments in
the next few years. "Our key issue for
success is the buying power of the
people. As soon as that increases,
there will be more opportunities for
Heineken beer. And I know for sure
that the economy will pick up. It may
take another year yet, but after that
things will improve."
T II I It I I) II I II I I N K k K
