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Prominently present in downtown Toronto: a sightseeing bus with
highly distinctive Heineken signage.
The liquor store in Toronto that sells more than all the
rest is the Queens's Quay Liqour Store. In the week before
Christmas last year this store had a turnover of 1 million
Canadian dollars. The man who manages the beer section
in this store has long noticed an upward line in the sales of
Heineken. "Heineken is doing very well. Right now espe
cially the keg can is a big success". The keg can, introduced
on a small scale on the market in June as a summer gim
mick, is proving an unexpectedly good seller. The manager
in another store told us that a pallet of Heineken in the keg
can is empty within a couple of days. The consumer's ent
husiasm is best illustrated by a lady who is putting three
cases of Heineken in her trolley and describes the keg cans
with the words "Aren't they cute?". Not only in Ontario are
the keg cans popular. They are also selling well in Western
Canada. John Kennedy is therefore determined to order dou
ble the quantity next year.
A pack format that Mr Kennedy also expects a lot from
is the new 33 cl bottle twelve-pack, which was introduced
in Alberta and Ontario in July this year. "A 24-pack for a
more expensive brand like Heineken is often a little bit too
much of a good thing for the consumer. The twelve-pack is
then a good in-between solution", feels John Kennedy. With
a view to developing Heineken sales in Canada he keeps a
close watch on the situation in the U.S. "Our strategy is to
learn from experiences that Heineken USA has had and
determine if they can be applied to Canada. In that respect
the twelve-pack is a good example. We have seen how suc
cessful it has been in the U.S. and that strengthens us in our
conviction that it will also meet a need in Canada."
Restaurant Bettie's, a trendy outlet that also serves Murphy's.
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Heineken is doing well in Canada. Ask a Molson employee
to give the reason for that success and you'll invariably
hear the name of John Kennedy, the man who is driving the
brand and mapping out a clear course for the future. John
counters those words of praise by pointing out that there is
a genuine sense of commitment at Molson. That, he feels, is
the reason for the great success. Commitment not only in
the top management of the organisation, but also - very
importantly - in the people in, say, sales and distribution.
For they are the ones who must work to build the brand day
in, day out. Not that it's a question of 'must' in the case of
Heineken. The Molson sales organisation has fully emb
raced Heineken as one of its own.
The close link between Molson and Heineken forms the
cornerstone for the further success of Heineken in Canada,
everyone is convinced of that. The upward line is develo
ping well and, if it is up to John Kennedy, Heineken will
have a two per cent share of the total beer market within
seven years. A staggering share, especially when compared
to the position that Heineken held several years ago. A two
per cent market share is an ambitious objective, but neither
Heineken nor Molson are nervous about it. They know the
market and they know the strength of the brand.
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