Heiiieken in green bottle
allowed into Puerto Rico
A combination for success
Since 1st September this
year breweries have been
allowed to import beer into
Puerto Rico in green or
clear glass bottles. The
Secretary of the Treasury
Department gave per
mission for this under pres
sure from Heineken and the
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Miller Brewing Company.
Until recently beer was only
allowed to he imported in
one type of brown bottle or
one type of can.
Heineken, together with
the U.S. brewery Miller,
took the matter to the U.S.
District Court in Puerto Rico
because it was felt that the
government's legislation on
beer packaging was an in
fringement of the laws on
interstate commerce. All
breweries which exported
to Puerto Rico were obliged
to pack their beer in special
brown bottles. For many
years this measure had
been a thorn in the side of
both Heineken and its
importer Mendez Co.,
since it meant that Heine-
ken's image in Puerto Rico
was out of line with that in
the rest of the world. Partly
thanks to negotiations con
ducted with the local go
vernment by Luis Alvarez,
Mendez' marketing manag
er, the Treasury Depart
ment changed its mind.
Meanwhile the first con
tainers with Heineken beer
in the familiar green bottle
have arrived in Puerto Rico.
Luis Alvarez is pleased
about the decision by the
local government. "After
four and a half years of
intensive lobbying we are
now happy that this agree
ment has been made.
Because of the govern
ment's measures we'd
always been impeded in
communicating Heineken's
quality to the consumer. We
have developed a very
straight to the point
advertising campaign to
communicate the switch to
green."
At the end of September
the first cases of Heineken
in green bottles will be
launched on the market.
Pending the change-over,
Mendez Co. had already
reduced stocks of Heineken
in brown bottles to a mini
mum to make sure that the
new bottles could be
brought into use within a
period of seven to ten days.
Alvarez realises thai his
pioneering role entails the
risk that the market will be
opened up to other brands,
but he is not afraid to face
the challenge. "With Heine
ken we have always main
tained a good position in
this market, without ever
having the possibility of
playing the game with a full
deck of cards. Besides, we
have spent many hours eva
luating the positives and
negatives of an amended
regulation and, without a
doubt, both Heineken and
Mendez have much more to
gain with the change."
This year's sales confer
ence of Gray Mackenzie,
agents for Heineken,
Amstel and Amstel Light in
the Middle East, was held
in the Diplomat Hotel in
Bahrain. The theme of the
conference, which was also
attended by Heineken
representatives - from
Export and from other dis
ciplines - was 'A combi
nation for success', in
which the accent was
placed on potential growth
and the strategic coope
ration between the two
businesses. Heineken is
already brand leader in the
Middle East and during the
sales conference marketing
strategies aimed at conti
nuing that growth in the
coming years were dis
cussed. The photo shows
Gray Mackenzie and
Heineken representatives
at the gala dinner.
T II I O II I I) 0 1 H h I N K K 1
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