g René Molenaar is an expert in the art of
Asked about the cooperation with Heineken, Luis
Alvarez has nothing but praise. "You need full commitment
for a project like this. It's more than just financial figures.
It's partnership, based on trust. Heineken invested a lot of
money in developing the bottle and it did that on the basis
of trust. That is what real partnership is built on: personal
and professional respect for one another. Partnership also
means continually setting each other new challenges and
forcing each other to keep an eye on what's happening in
the world outside."
FLIP NIGHT
"I'd like a Heineken, please".
"Certainly, heads or tails, sir?"
The man who orders a Heineken is the master of his own
luck during the Heineken Flip Night. If the customer guess
es correctly, he gets his Heineken free. If not, he pays the
normal price.
The Heineken Flip Night is one of the many promotions
that Mendez organises for Heineken. Popular events are the
happy hours in the more up-market outlets. Mendez always
describes these as the Heineken Premium Hours. "We want
to use that word 'premium' to distinguish Heineken from
the other brands. For instance we also refer to the Heineken
Premium Jazz Nights and Premium Events", says Mr Dunia.
The Flip Nights enjoy the greatest popularity amongst
consumers. The surprise is clearly reflected in their faces:
the one who wins is happy. But the one who has to pay for
his drink doesn't really feel that he's lost out. Whilst pro
motions were always important in the past, their role has
grown even more crucial in recent years because of the
keener competition. "Our promotions are strongly sales
driven. They provide support for sales and at the same time
they are a vehicle for creating goodwill amongst our custo
mers. So we use promotions for the high volume accounts,
but also for the high visibility accounts".
Advertising - specifically in the form of TV commercials
- is much more image driven. Faced by the stiffer competi
tion, Mendez is almost compelled to broadcast a new TV
spot every 14 to 16 months. "At the moment the annual
advertising spend in Puerto Rico runs to some 36 million
dollars. For a beer market of 2.5 million hectolitres, that's
an enormous amount", says Elias Dunia.
FOUR DAY SHOOT
In November last year the shooting of a new commercial
took place in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. It was the
culmination of months of preparatory work. The Young
Rubicam advertising agency in Puerto Rico had flown in a
producer, a cameraman and an assistant cameraman from
Los Angeles for the shooting. The commercial lasts thirty
seconds; shooting it took four days.
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preparing beer for commercial films shoots.
"The ultimate Heineken feeling"
Regional Export Manager Kees
Brandt describes the event as
'the ultimate Heineken feeling'
(see page 3): the Heineken Jazz
Fest. First started in 1991 the
festival is held every year in the
Puerto Rican capital San Juan.
Four nights of Jazz with the
emphasis on Latin attract a total
of fifteen thousand visitors.
Artists appearing in recent years
included Michel Camillo, Dave
Valentin, Giovani Hidalgo,
DeeDee Bridgewater (top photo),
the Caribbean Jazz Project and
George Benson. Organised by
Mendez Co., the iazz festival
has Luis Alvarez as its executive
producer, supported by Mendez'
marketing staff.
