"When I'm in a stadium in
Zagreb amongst thousands
of people enjoying a concert
by B.B. King and I see all
those Heineken flags and
banners, then for me that's
the ultimate Heineken feel
ing. The same feeling of
pride comes over me when I
attend the Jazz Fest in
Puerto Rico."
Regional Export Manager Kees
Brandt is calling it a day after work
ing for Heineken for almost thirty
years. "I've always said: when I get
to sixty, that will be a fine time to
stop." He has worked for Heineken
since 1968 and has been with
Heineken Export since 1980. In those
seventeen years Kees Brandt has
made a considerable contribution to
the growth of the Export operations.
Having travelled to almost every cor
ner of the globe, he is a familiar face
to many distributors.
Almost everywhere his enthu
siasm for the Heineken brand rubs
off on others. Even during the inter
view a gleam comes to his eyes when
we talk about the Heineken brand.
"Heineken is the taste of class, it
simply radiates class. Just look at an
event like the Heineken Regatta on
Sint Maarten. When I walk round
there and take in the whole atmos
phere, it really gives me a kick! The
Regatta creates the same warm feel
ing as the Jazz Fest in Puerto Rico.
What we achieve with those events
is something you simply can't do if
you're selling an electric light bulb."
As the years passed, marketing
became an ever more important in
strument, but the Regional Export
Managers and Area Export Managers
still had to coordinate their market
ing activities themselves. Today,
Heineken Export has a separate mar
keting department which provides
support for the export managers.
But time moves on and develop
ments are unstoppable. Kees Brandt
also experienced this, as he watched
and helped 'his' Export organisation
to move ahead with the times. If you
compare the early 1980s with today,
you can see the enormous difference.
"At that time we hardly had any
export offices. We had Heineken
Trading in Curasao. And then the
office in Singapore was set up in the
early 'eighties. That was the period
when we started to become more
aware that export offices are much
better for your brand and for your
position in the market. They allow to
you operate closer to the market, clo
ser to the customer. Now we have a
large number of export offices."
"In the early 'eighties the export
managers were still doing pioneering
"HEINEKEN, THE TASTE
CASE SHIFTERS
Kees Brandt is one of the few people
within Heineken who has worked in
both beer as well as in spirits and
soft drinks. His posts included Senior
Product Manager with Gedistilleerd
en Wijngroep Nederland (the Dutch
spirits and wines group which was
then a part of Heineken) and Mark
eting Manager at Vrumona, before
he was asked to strengthen the ranks
at Export. "In those days the man
agers at Heineken Export were refer
red to as 'case shifters'. They sold
beer and that was that. I was the
first one there with a marketing
background and it was my job to in
troduce the marketing philosophy in
to the organisation. It wasn't easy, as
there was no concept, no structure."
work. It was an adventure. You really
went out in the field. Out there,
searching for potential markets.
Nowadays, there's not such a need
for that. So much information is now
available to the export manager via
databases. It's all become a lot more
professional, more clinical. But, of
course, that doesn't change the fact
that it's still one of the most dynamic
functions within Heineken."
GREY HAIRS
Inevitably, a lengthy career not only
has its high spots but also its share of
disappointments. So Kees Brandt has
experienced setbacks as well as
moments when he took great pride
in the results he had achieved.
"What gave me really great satis
faction was being able to push the
Swiss market from virtually next to
nothing to a volume of 200,000
hectolitres. The Swiss market is a
