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Enthusiastic
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
Three friends play the star roles in an extremely successful
advertising campaign for Amstel in The Netherlands. This
success has led to Amstel's decision to roll out this campaign to
other countries as well. Now it's the turn of Greece, Bulgaria and
Hungary to see for themselves that Amstel and friendship go
hand in hand.
Amstel stands for Friendship, Fun and Freedom, characteristics
that have been an integral part of the brand image since 1993.
Feel free, relax and have fun with your friends - and with Amstel.
Extensive market research in The Netherlands showed that the
theme of friendship formed a solid basis for a long-run advertising
campaign. Since 1997, Dutch TV viewers have enjoyed watching
three Amstel friends who, as they drink their beer, poke fun at
each other and have a great time together. But, like real friends
should be, they are also there to help one another.
Over the past four years more than twenty commercials based on
this theme have been broadcast in The Netherlands. Consumers
have shown a highly enthusiastic response to this humorous
campaign and that has been reflected not only in prestigious
awards from the advertising industry, but also in fantastic results
for the brand; since 1998 the volume of Amstel sold has climbed
by ten per cent.
The great success in The Netherlands soon persuaded the Amstel
marketing experts to find out whether the idea could also be
'exported' to other Amstel markets. Do beer and friendship fit
together in other countries? Jolanda van Wijk, International
Communication Manager Amstel: "We don't know yet whether the
combination of beer and friendship will work in all Amstel
markets, simply because we haven't yet researched that aspect in
many countries. In fact we only want to launch this campaign once
•V
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