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.
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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."
