d
under licence by
for 20 years
Market leader
Desnoes Geddes is Jamaica's
only brewery and has built up undis
puted market leadership with its own
Red Stripe and Dragon Stout brands
and with its licensed brands Heine-
ken, Guinness and McEwan's Ale.
Because import duties are still very
high, imported beers do not play any
significant role in Jamaica.
Over the years Red Stripe has
developed from a local brand into a
beer with an international appeal.
Red Stripe is currently brewed under
licence in the United Kingdom and
Australia and is exported to countries
such as the United States, Canada,
Germany as well as to many neigh
bouring islands in the Caribbean. The
activities of Desnoes Geddes are
not limited to the brewing and mar
keting of beer. D&G also bottles Pepsi
Cola and has its own range of soft
drinks. Two years ago D&G also
introduced Malta and Dandy Shandy
on the market. In addition, the com
pany participates in a local glass-
making plant and produces various
packaging components itself, includ
ing crown corks.
(Quality
Rob Elert is Regional Technical
Manager Heineken for the Caribbean.
He says that the quality of Heineken
Beer in Jamaica is excellent. "Each
year some 115,000 hectolitres of
Heineken is brewed in the Hunts Bay
Brewery in Kingston. To ensure
consistency in quality you need good
managerial practice. At Desnoes
Geddes they have enough people for
whom the brewing world holds no
secrets." At the start of the licensing
operation in 1975, Heineken brew-
master Tibor Hachemacher was
stationed in Kingston to supervise the
quality of the Heineken brews. In the
meantime, thanks to the brew-techni
cal know-how that D&G have built
up, that supervision is no longer nee
ded.
Shift
The Jamaican beer market has a
volume of more than 700,000 hectoli
tres at present. The lion's share of the
market is accounted for by lagers
(some 600,000 hectolitres), the re
maining 100,000 is stout.
In recent years there have been
signs of a shift within the market:
sales growth of lagers has flattened
out somewhat, notes Heineken
International Marketing Manager
Charles Janssen, who is responsible
for the marketing of Heineken Beer in
the Caribbean region. Sales of stout,
however, are increasing strongly,
particularly amongst younger con
sumers.
According to Mr Janssen, Jamaica
is one of the few markets in the
Caribbean in which a segmentation of
the beer market has taken place. And
yet that did not take place primarily
on the basis of image, but above all on
the basis of product qualities and how
they are perceived. Some consumers
show great brand loyalty and there
are many confirmed Heineken drink
ers who are willing to pay as much as
40% more for their bottle of beer than
the Red Stripe drinker. "For many
people status is the motive for drink
ing Heineken, but the preference for
Heineken as a product is at least
equally important", says Mr Janssen.
Supported
The Honourable Paul Geddes, son
of one of the brewery's founders, has
helped Heineken to build up a re
spectable position in Jamaica over the
past twenty years. "Mr Paul Geddes
has always supported Heineken and
has definitely helped to create
Heineken-mindedness on Jamaica",
explains Mr Janssen.
Jaap van Oordt, financial control
ler at Heineken Corporate, was
involved in the contract negotiations
in 1973. He has great respect for the
brewery in Jamaica. "Desnoes
Geddes has a great image in the
Caribbean; it is a famous brewery
which has built up a good reputation
in the region. They are good busi
nessmen, first-rate people."
Desnoes Geddes devotes much attention
to consumer promotions for Heineken.
