IMPRESSIVE
MARKETING
PROGRAMME
BY KANE
IN SERBIA
Nenad Sarenac, owner of
Kane Export Import in
Serbia, is a resourceful man.
In the winter months,
when many consumers
switch from beer to other
alcoholic beverages, when
the bottom falls out Of the The Heineken Concert for Three Drums: a 'resounding' success.
beer market and beer
importers temporarily stop
their activities, his sales of
Heineken grow. Sarenac will
not even consider stopping
the imports of Heineken
Beer from Holland, as he
has identified the gap in
the market.
Heineken is growing in Serbia de
spite the adverse circumstances. The
country's economic situation is poor,
purchasing power is low. Besides,
Kane lost Kosovo as a sales market
because of the fighting there. And
during this past summer it was not
all a bed of roses in Montenegro on
the Adriatic coast. "During the sum
mer months we hold almost all our
marketing activities and promotions
in Montenegro, as that's where the
tourists are. Last summer the foreign
ers stayed away, as they were afraid
of what was happening in nearby
Kosovo. And yet we still believe we'll
end up with a ten per cent increase
in sales at the end of this year."
That increase is attributable more
than anything to the wide range of
marketing activities that Kane devel
ops for Heineken. Activities that
take place almost exclusively in the
on premise sector. The off trade does
not play a significant role for
Heineken, one of the reasons being
the low purchasing power. "People
here are accustomed to drinking
local beer in the half-litre bottle.
Heineken is four to five times more
expensive than local beer, so people
hardly drink Heineken at home", says
Mr Sarenac.
But they do drink it in the on prem
ise establishments. Heineken stands
for lifestyle and has a high image,
especially amongst consumers aged
between 18 and 40. Students in par
ticular are an important target
group. But surely they can't afford
that expensive Heineken Beer?
"Students often seek to create a new
image for themselves. So they prefer
to drink one or two bottles of
Heineken rather than the local beer."
Heineken Beer can mainly be found
in Belgrade and the other big cities in
the bars, the trendy outlets such as
disco clubs, and in cafés and restau
rants.
Nenad Sarenac feels that one of the
most successful promotions over the
past year was the sponsorship of the
Kuguars, a theatre group that travel
led throughout the country with a
musical show. The tour was spon
sored by Heineken. One of the songs
in the musical was about the popular
Serbian football player, Dejan
Savicevic. This song became all the
rage in the country.
Another activity that generated a
lot of publicity was the Heineken
Concert for Three Drums. Yugoslavia's
three best drummers gave concerts
in the main cities of Serbia. The
television recorded footage of the
concerts, which has meanwhile been
broadcast, and a CD of one of the
concerts, complete with the atten
dant Heineken publicity, has also
been released.
In addition, Kane Export Import's
activities over the past year included:
Heineken Music Nights with a
scratchcard promotion, special promo
tions in Belgrade's Sportcafé, a bar
which is dominated by Heineken POS
materials, a performance by a pop
group, which was also broadcast on
TV, etc. Thanks to this broad range of
activities Kane has been able to
expand Heineken's position in the
difficult market of Serbia.
30
