itants) is not handled by a Coca Cola
bottler but by the firm of Blitz. Its
owner is Eberhart Aichinger, born
and bred in Brazil but with Austrian
parents. Naturally he speaks fluent
Portuguese, but his parents never
renounced their roots and always
spoke German at home. In the 1950s
Eberhart Aichinger's mother started a
restaurant in Belo Horizonte. After
some time her son took over the busi
ness and started to expand it. Today
Aichinger owns twelve restaurants in
Belo Horizonte, each with their own
character and atmosphere. 'You must
never do the same thing twice. If a
self-service restaurant is successful,
for example, you mustn't open a
second one but keep looking out for a
new formula.'
As the years passed and his restau
rants grew in number, Aichinger
increasingly felt the need to import
drinks (especially wines) himself.
Blitz was established and a customer
base was built up which extended far
beyond supplying the restaurants he
During the launch of Heineken beer in the
capital city of Brasilia, the presentation of a
Heineken bag plus contents to Brazil's
President Collor generated a lot of
publicity.
owned. Aichinger gained more and
more expertise in the sale of alcoholic
drinks and Heineken is now gratefully
making use of that expertise.
Heineken is doing well in the deli
catessen stores. Nowhere in Brazil are
there as many delicatessens as in Belo
Horizonte. The inhabitants of this city
are clearly very keen on quality prod
ucts and are willing to pay the prices
charged for them. In these stores -
which are unique for Brazil - fifty per
cent of the Heineken sales are achiev
ed. But in Belo Horizonte, too, the
recession has started to bite; over the
past half year the delicatessen stores
have suffered a sizable drop in turn
over of as much as 30%.
Advertising
The introduction of Heineken beer
in Bio was supported by a special
advertising message. Johan de lleijn,
the HTS consultant whose job is to
watch over the quality of Heineken
beer, was briefly a well-known per
sonality in Bio when he starred in the
commercial which convinced viewers
that the brewing of Heineken is
something special. The commercial
was intended for the launch phase
and so it was only on Brazilian TV for
a short period.
Several months ago the new com
mercial was broadcast on TV. 'For this
film, which contains a dash of
humour, we wanted a beery environ
ment. The decor had to be a little bit
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
