Challenge O X Heineken takes the view that a good sponsor must also be a good host, certainly when that host is a brewer. And every good host serves a good glass of Heineken Beer. Even when it involves catering for as many as 40,000 potential customers a day, as was the case during the Hong Kong Sevens in April this year. rm The Hong Kong Sevens is a rugby tournament lasting for three days in which seven-man teams from all over the world play against each other. This year the event was sponsored by Heineken for the first time. Hans Schutt, consultant of the Draught Beer Competence Centre: "Sevens is a combination of sport and carnival. People come along for both the sport and the party atmosphere. Every day forty thousand fans pack the stadium." Heineken Hong Kong gave Hans Schutt the job of ensuring that all those thirsty throats were kept refreshed. It proved to be a tough assignment, one that was preceded by a preparation time of six months. "You start by visiting the location. By looking around and talking to those who are directly involved: what are their expectations, how many people will be there, what's the target group. And, for instance, you have to find out everything about the local legislation: what's allowed and what isn't." Mr Schutt was confronted with two logistical problems: during the tournament no beer or other products were allowed to be taken inside the venues, and he also knew that during the tournament there would be very high peaks in consumption which would be more than the cooling capacity that a normal dispenser installation could cope with. Add to that the climatological conditions (30 °C) and you have all the ingredients for a real challenge of trying to serve Heineken Beer at the right temperature. "Hiring a seagoing reefer container to pre-cool the kegs in was not possible and so we used ice containers for the preliminary cooling of the beer lines, and then passed it via the conventional cooler and the handytap to bring it to the right temperature." To ensure that customers did not have to wait an unnecessarily long time for their Heineken, it was important to have all the logis tics effectively organised, both behind and in front of the bar. "When you have to sell a glass of beer to so many people, it takes an awfully long time. That's why we decided to serve the beer in a two-litre pitcher and to install a lot of dispenser points on each bar to serve all those people." In the end Hans Schutt can look back on a successful Sevens. "That is the pressure of an event like that: you have just one chance to get it right. And you have to seize that chance."

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World of Heineken | 2001 | | pagina 41