f.::,
20
a proper bar counter and which resemble a pub. Then there
are the taverns, rooms in which people get together but
which are separate from the residential part of the house.
And there are also the standard shebeens: living rooms, or
a couple of tables or chairs outdoors on the terrace or on
the grass where people can sit down and drink a little and
chat about what's happened that day. You really have to
know that there is a shebeen behind a certain wall or in a
certain house, as there are no identifying marks or signs at
all on the outside. No advertising displays, no neon signs or
flags and that means that there is no chance for Heineken
to try to boost its visibility on the outside of such a she
been. Inside the shebeen itself, however, various types of
POS material can be displayed.
SOWETO
Soweto has many thousands of shebeens. How many exact
ly? That's impossible to answer. Many other figures and sta
tistics about Soweto are unclear. Estimates of its population
differ widely, with one person saying that Soweto has
around 3.5 million inhabitants, whilst another tells you it is
home to between 5.5 and 6 million people. Samuel Ogbu, a
Nigerian by birth, was brought up in the UK and has been
district manager in Soweto for SAB for over six months. The
number of inhabitants of Soweto is growing each day, espe
cially because of the arrival of people from neighbouring
countries, who have fled the poor economic situation in
their home country and are seeking to build a new and bet
ter life in South Africa.
A discussion about population numbers suddenly be
comes irrelevant if you climb a hill from which you can look
out and survey the entire township. The scene is amazing:
everywhere little houses stretch away towards the horizon,
sometimes dilapidated and neglected, sometimes with
neat, freshly mown lawns. A home and a garden in the sub
urbs. This, too, is Soweto. So it's not all poverty. The con
trast between poor and rich that can also be seen in other
districts of Johannesburg is also present in this township.
Barefooted kids play on the street with self-made toys,
whilst a hundred metres further down the road a young
man is busy washing his car - a dark-blue 5 series BMW.
From the Baragwanath depot on the outskirts of Soweto
SAB supplies some fifty distributors. Of those distributors,
there are twenty who together account for 60% of the total
volume. With increasing frequency, more and more
Heineken Beer is loaded onto the trucks that head towards
Soweto. According to Samuel Ogbu, that is not surprising.
"The people in Soweto are not only price conscious but cer
tainly status conscious as well. Before the price reduction
(about which more later, ed.) Heineken Beer was seen as a
beer for those very special occasions. That has since chang
ed. The inhabitants of Soweto now like to drink Heineken
on Friday nights and Saturday nights, the nights to have a
good time. At other moments in the week they drink stan
dard beers."
The shebeens are attractive for Heineken, explains Mr
Van Geldern. "With Heineken we focus mainly on the elite
shebeens. Those are the outlets which fit in best with
Heineken and their image also has a spin-off to the other
shebeens. In due course, therefore, we expect that there
will be a demand for Heineken from the other shebeens",
says Mr Van Geldern.
For black South Africans a funeral is a moment of
showing empathy and providing support to the bereaved
family. Hundreds and occasionally thousands of people
gather together to pay their last respects. Some trends
emerge whereby people gather after the funeral to share
friendship, network and socialise, which is known as After
tears'. This, in most cases, involves some drinks.
There is one aspect of beer drinking that all South
y
SAB representatives pay a lot of attention to Heineken in the off
premise.
Africans (both black and white) agree on: everyone likes to
drink their beer straight from the bottle. According to
George, there is a logical explanation. "People like those
around them to see what beer they are drinking. And that,
of course, applies in particular to the more expensive
brands."
