image in Australia. It was seen as a
beer for the somewhat older consu
mer. Thanks to a new TV commer
cial, which caused quite a stir, we've
started to blow some of the cobwebs
off the Heineken image."
Top of mind
Michael Porra, Director of Client
Service and Account Director of adver
tising agency Marketforce, explains
the new campaign. "For two years the
consumer had heard nothing about
Heineken and sales were dropping
fast. The consumer hadn't really for
gotten the product, but Heineken was
no longer top of mind. Before we
devised the campaign, research was
conducted into what consumers see as
the strong and weak points of the
Heineken brand in Australia. The
number of strong points was striking:
the world's biggest seller, European,
green bottle, expensive and for special
social occasions. The weak point was
that in the eyes of the target group, A-
B males between 25 and 35, Heineken
had changed into a 'dad's beer'. Young
people walked away from it. At that
point Heineken was failing to make
people feel special", explains Michael
Porra.
With the survey outcome in 'back
of mind', Marketforce faced a major
challenge: could they again create a
sense of uniqueness for a product
which, despite impeccable creden
tials, was on a gradual downward
slide? The campaign could not be
based on a 'lifestyle' theme. That
1980s phenomenon had meanwhile
been rejected by the Australian
consumer. According to Marketforce,
the 1990s are the decade of being uni
que, of discovery, of making your own
choices.
Thumbprint
Marketforce devised the concept
of the thumbprint campaign. A green
print of a thumb as the reflection of
the unique nature of every individual
personality. During the commercial
this thumbprint changes into the
Heineken label. The message is that
Heineken, too, is unique.
Whilst the underlying idea of the
campaign was good, its execution was
- to put it mildly - brilliant. During the
campaign's first week only the
thumbprint was shown in a 15-second
TV commercial with the pay-off line:
'It's as original as you are'. There was
absolutely no link with Heineken. The
commercial confused consumers and
also aroused their curiosity. Which
was exactly what Marketforce, Inch-
cape and Heineken were aiming to
do. One week later came the start of
phase two of the campaign: linking
the 'original' with Heineken Beer.
Four other commercials have
meanwhile been produced, all based
on Ihe thumbprint message but with
minor adaptations. A voice-over now
tells the story more clearly, yet
without destroying the mystery of the
commercial. Marketforce decided on
modifications after market research
had shown that the campaign had
created slightly too much confusion in
the minds of consumers. Michael
Porra explains: "We made the switch
from difficult-to-understand and intri
guing to a more understandable
message. The start of the campaign
may indeed have been a little difficult
for the consumer to grasp, but we had
to do that to effectively put across the
unique aspect of Heineken. Subse
quently, the voice-over was used to
give the product more brand
identity".
Coverage
Heineken, Inchcape and Market-
force deliberately opted for a tele
vised campaign, not for one in the
print media. Even apart from the fact
that the special execution of the cam
paign would not have come across
forcefully enough in the print media,
television reaches a much wider
audience than newspapers and
magazines. Apart from the lower
coverage, there was another reason to
disregard the print media: the target
group for Heineken is not found
amongst traditional newspaper
readers or magazine buyers.
Efforts were therefore focused on
television. According to Marketforce
some segmentation exists between
the television stations. And yet too
much weight must not be attached to
this segmentation. Viewers are loyal
specifically to certain programmes
rather than to an individual network.
Advertising for alcoholic beverag
es is subjected to restrictions in
Australia. No beer commercial will be
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
