son, males in socio-economic groups
A and B form the most interesting tar
get group for a premium product like
Heineken.
The Heineken beer that is on sale
in Mexico comes from the Heineken
brewery in Den Bosch in the
Netherlands. It's better for the
Heineken image to import the beer
from Holland.
Cuauhtemoc and Moctezuma cur
rently have nine breweries. In
November last year the most recent
production unit came 011 stream in
Navojoa. Initial capacity was 600,000
hectolitres; the intention is that output
will be boosted within a short space of
time to 5 million hectolitres. Femsa
has great confidence in the growth of
the Mexican beer market, as plans
already exist at the moment for the
construction of yet another new brew
ery.
Higher
In the north of Mexico beer con
sumption per head of the population
amounts to 80 litres: significantly
higher than the national average.
That high consumption is one of the
reasons why more Heineken beer is
sold in Monterrey than in Mexico City.
As is to be expected, American
beers are doing relatively well in
Monterrey, but the absolute market
leader (90%!) is Carta Blanca, one of
the beers brewed by Cerveceria
Cuauhtemoc. 'Carta Blanca is a
household name in Monterrey and is
deeply anchored in the roots of the
population. As a result, competition
here is much less than in Mexico City
and that is an advantage for Heineken.
Promoting Heineken in a bar on Plaza
Garibaldi. Two promo girls persuade custo
mers to try a Heineken beer.
Monterrey
The most successful market for
Heineken is Monterrey, a city with a
population of millions in the north of
Mexico. The city reminds you of cities
in the south of the United States:
sprawling, with long, wide highways,
no clear centre.
Somewhere within this extensive
jumble of buildings stands the
Cuauhtemoc brewery with its annual
capacity of five million hectolitres.
Heineken has concluded a technical
assistance contract with the Cuauhte
moc and Moctezuma breweries,
enabling the breweries to benefit from
Heineken's know-how of brewing
technology. According to Hans
Bellekens, a consultant from
Heineken Technical Services who has
been working at Cuauhtemoc and
Moctezuma since May last year, the
brewery has become too small. 'There
is no possibilities for expansion here,
as the brewer is located in a densely
populated area. Besides, there's a
chronic shortage of water. The num
ber of litres of water needed to brew
one litre of beer has already been
drastically reduced to five by the
brewery.'
T li E W O It I. I) OK II El N E t E N
