were consistently mentioned: refreshing and green. On the
basis of these an advertising objective and a proposition
were worked out and the advertising agency set to work to
develop a print campaign and give a local twist to an inter
national TV commercial. In between that work, a series of
commercials using both Chinese and English had to be
developed for a programme sponsorship on a local, English-
language radio station.
Discussions about the execution took a long time. Not
because the message was not a good one, but due to the
translation from Mandarin Chinese into English and back.
"Chinese advertising texts are very poetic and make you
think deep. If you have to translate such a phrase into
English, it's very hard going", explains Victor Weng. He has
worked for Heineken Taiwan since 1996, he speaks Dutch
and English and his knowledge of the Chinese language
alone makes him very valuable for Heineken Taiwan.
Incidentally, it's only been since last year that advertising
agencies have been able to start thinking about creating
beer commercials for TV or radio audiences. Until 1996 only
printed advertising for alcoholic beverages was permitted
in Taiwan. Three years prior to that there had already been
talk in government circles about a relaxation of the rules.
"Taiwan has become very marketing driven in the past few
years. Besides, Taiwan aspires to become the regional centre
for the media" is Victor Weng's explanation of the switch.
GAMBEI
Taipei, Taiwan's capital with three million inhabitants, is
situated on the Northern tip of the island and is not
Heineken's biggest sales market at the moment. Almost half
of all Heineken Beer in Taiwan is drunk in the South of the
country. A few years ago the situation was the other way
round: Taipei was important for Heineken. That was not
surprising: the capital, which has a more cosmopolitan
character than the rest of the island, has the highest con
centration of Western bars. And distribution of Heineken
was specifically targeted at outlets of this type.
But times change, also for Heineken. Whereas distribu
tion in the past was selective (Western style bars and high
class Chinese restaurants), more emphasis is now being
placed on distribution in the mainstream Chinese restau
rants and in the beer houses.
The characteristic feature of drinking beer in the res
taurants is sharing a bottle. Small glasses are kept con
stantly topped up by pouring beer into them from a big bot
tle and toasts are made at regular intervals. This is done in
the Chinese manner: you ask someone to toast with you,
place a finger under the glass, say 'gambei' to the person
you're toasting with and together you drain your glass
empty in one go. Refusing an invitation to gambei is ex
tremely impolite and very much frowned upon.
The 1994 introduction of the big (65 cl) bottle is helping
Heineken to build up a position in the Chinese restaurants
in Taiwan. But Ed Weggemans is not yet satisfied with the
degree of penetration. "Our importer and distributor Tait
will now be concentrating even more on increasing the dis
tribution in these outlets, based on sales of the big bottle."
TAIT
Tait has been the exclusive importer of Heineken in Taiwan
ever since 1987, when the import ban was lifted. The range
of products sold by Tait is incredibly big: more than one
thousand products, and that's not even counting the
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