Billboards placed at strategic points in
downtown Mexico City help boost aware
ness of the Heineken brand name.
tisements are still used today, but only
to a limited extent. The international
campaign ('When you make a great
beer you don't have to make a great
fuss') still appears in the newspapers.
Magazines are hardly used by
Navarro, since most of them have a
limited print-run.
Last year Heineken enjoyed suc
cess in the Mexican newspapers with
two topical, 'tie-in' ads. The advertis
ing agency seized on the total eclipse
of the sun as a peg for two high class
advertisements. 'Beautiful moon,
embrace me for a moment' and 'At
last the eternal couple is together'.
Though Heineken was certainly not
the only company to latch onto the
eclipse in advertisements, its stylish
approach received praise from all
sides.
Last year saw the launch of a TV
commercial. The Heineken commer
cial from the U.S.A. (showing the
droplet creeping up the side of the
Heineken bottle) was used as a basis.
The main message: Around the world
Heineken is Heineken. Allowing the
consumer to get to know Heineken is
still the most important aim of the
advertising at the moment. Only at a
later stage will it become possible to
shift the emphasis more towards a
lifestyle campaign.
To make the 'U.S. commercial'
suitable for the Mexican market, the
music in the commercial had to be
modernised, as the existing melody
did not fit the target group which
Cervezas Mundiales had in mind.
Marketing manager Martin
Hutchinson does not want to abandon
TV advertising completely, but has
shifted the accents in this year's
advertising. He sees great promise in
billboards at strategic locations in the
big cities and has decided to set aside
part of the advertising budget for this
purpose.
According to Carlos Soares of the
Navarro advertising agency, bill
boards and TV advertising are the
most effective forms of commercial
communication. 'Not much reading is
done in Mexico. People respond very
much more to visual messages. As
regards television advertising for
Heineken it is very important to be
highly selective when deciding on the
time of broadcast. TV advertising is
extremely expensive in Mexico.'
Especially the blocks of commercials
before and after news broadcasts and
feature films are very attractive for a
premium product like Heineken. But
they're also very pricy.
It should be clear that Heineken
beer is still in its infancy in Mexico.
The consumer's liking for his own
national beers, the high price of
Heineken and the influence which the
United States has on daily life in
Mexico don't make things any easier
for Heineken.
Yet there are visible tendencies
indicating that the tide is about to
turn. The country's economic growth
and the accompanying growth in
spending power are changing the con
sumer's buying pattern. Quality is
steadily becoming more and more
important in Mexico as well, provid
ing fertile ground for Heineken beer.
For Cervezas Mundiales it is a
question of remaining inventive and
aggressive. The market has enough
potential to make Heineken beer a
success.
25
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
