Farewell to exporter
Kees Brandt
classic example of the consistency of
the Heineken market approach. The
existence of cartels in Switzerland
meant that the Swiss market was
foreclosed to foreign beers. Thanks to
the focus and dedication of the
distributors and the support from
Amsterdam (and later from the
export office in Ziirich) we made it a
success in Switzerland. The same
now applies to, say, Croatia. Because
of the dedication and focus of the
distributors, we have grown with
Heineken within a couple of years to
become the most popular foreign
beer in that country."
But it cannot always be a bed of
roses, as Kees Brandt knows from his
own experience: "The Belgian market
really gave me grey hairs. My biggest
frustration is that we have never suc
ceeded in gaining a real foothold in
Belgium. Despite working my guts
out there since 1980, I've never earn
ed one single guilder. We had always
thought that the Belgians and the
Dutch do not differ all that much
from each other. So there had to be
an opening for Heineken Beer. But,
whilst the Belgian beer culture
