AMSTEL BEER
Johannesburg and Pretoria, is wildly enthusiastic about the
enormous boost in sales triggered by the Heineken promo
tion. "I have been involved in all sorts of promotions for
years. But what we experienced with this one was incred
ible. There were bar owners who took various initiatives
themselves to make the promotion a success. The Baron
Cobbler Restaurant had a turnover of eighty cases of
Heineken in one single night, eighty per cent of all the beer
sold that night." And that for a beer that has a 0.1% share
of the beer market!
SAB often outsources its bigger promotions. Promotion
girls and men dressed in Heineken uniform then have the
task of convincing consumers of the Heineken quality and
encouraging trial. According to Brian, it is crucial for the
promotion teams to be thoroughly familiar with the prod
uct they are trying to sell. "They receive a basic Heineken
training from us: background facts about the history, some
information about the brewing process and key figures
about the Heineken company and the brand. We feel that
this is terribly important, because if a customer asks why
he ought to drink Heineken, the promotion girl must
respond immediately and have all the arguments at her
fingertips."
For more than thirty years SAB has been
brewing Amstel Beer under licence for the
local market. And with success.
From the very start Amstel was positioned in
the premium segment and today the brand is
the absolute market leader in that segment.
The presence of Amstel is also visible on the
roads in and around Johannesburg:
SAB trucks feature impressive Amstel livery
and signage. The prospects for Amstel are
rosy. The expected shift in consumption
patterns (from sorghum to standard and
from standard to premium) means there is
great potential for Amstel, even though
Heineken is positioned in the same segment.
Mario van Geldern does not expect any real
competition between the two brands:
"Heineken is in the premium segment but is
positioned at the higher end of the segment.
Besides, both Heineken and Amstel can
benefit from the growth in the premium
segment. Five to ten years from now
I cannot see why both brands together
shouldn't give us a market share of 60 to
70% in the premium segment".
