"In the end life is all
about advertising"
'Advertiser of the Year' Award for Alfred Heineken
The 72-year-old beer magnate
loves to joke. It is a means of
deflecting attention from him
self, deflating pomposity in others and
illustrating a point. Most of his quips
have a serious core of truth. Although
he may joke about it, Mr Heineken
takes advertising very seriously.
"If I had not been a brewer I
would have been an ad man. I am fas
cinated by the effect marketing com
munications can have on people... It is
a difficult profession and beer adverti
sing is the most difficult there is. The
product has existed for thousands of
years and there is therefore not much
new to say about it. In the end it all
revolves around the product. That has
to be very good and most of all the
quality has to be constant. A bad bot
tle of beer is a personal insult", he
says.
Genius
Mr Heineken is clearly honoured
to have been voted 1995 Advertiser of
the Year by the executive committee
of the Cannes International Adver
tising Festival. But the man who built
up the brewer's advertising depart
ment from scratch and masterminded
the campaigns which have made
Heineken the most international beer
brand in the world remains modest
about his own role and does not like
being placed in the media spotlight. "I
am very proud to receive the award",
he says. Then as a safeguard against
self importance, he jokes: "But I'm
afraid the secret will get out that I am
a genius".
Ensconced in iiis elegant office in the centre of
Amsterdam, Freddy Heineken reflects on the
effectiveness of his company's advertising spend
ing. Then he points to a dinosaur's egg in a glass
case on a nearby table and quips: "It would be
more effective to invest in a DNA clone from that
egg and put the dinosaur on a leash outside this
office. Then I wouldn't have to advertise any
more". He smiles.
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
