er proclaiming Heineken as the beer
of the people. Little did we know that
the worker saw himself as the man in
the blue suit".
After his ground-breaking work
in the late 1940s and 1950s, Mr
Heineken remained closely involved
in the company's advertising despite
the pressures of running the rapidly-
expanding brewery group. For many
years, he vetted every single adverti
sing expression the company made
and quickly became attuned to the art
of radio and television commercials.
"I always had the right to veto ideas,
to maintain quality. It's also my
money they are fooling around with.
That makes a big difference to one's
attitude", he says.
Instinctive
But it is difficult to accept
Heineken's view of himself that his
main contribution to the company's
advertising effort has been quality and
cost control. The man constantly bub
bles with ideas and relishes word play
that breeds slogan after slogan such
as 'Be wiser Bud. Drink Heineken!'. In
1984, he received a 'Lamp', one of
Holland's most prestigious advertising
awards, for a print campaign devised
by himself, and was voted the
Netherlands advertiser of the year in
1989.
His relationship with Frank Lowe
of Lowe Howard-Spink has spawned
some of the company's most success
ful campaigns, including the unforget
table: 'Heineken refreshes the parts
other beers cannot reach'. According
to Mr Heineken, Lowe is the quintes
sential ad man: "instinctive, primiti
ve".
And, as Mr Heineken notes: "The
best campaigns are nearly always
instinctive. Advertising is not a scien
ce although it will become more
scientific as we gain the capacity to
penetrate deeper into the human
mind. The best advertising people do
not have to go to high grade schools.
They should be close to the common
people".
Indeed, there is large dose of
street savvy in Mr Heineken's adverti
sing philosophy. "Advertising is a
combination of intuition, trade know-
how and sales experience. You have
to sense whether an advertisement is
good or not. You can't always explain
why. Entrepreneurs and their adver
tising consultants should get out on
the street to get to know what the con
sumer wants and how the traders
think about their product. Advertising
should not be separate from the orga
nisation and those people who are sel
ling the product. I still go out and
taste different beers and see what
people think about Heineken", he
says.
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
