A M S T E L
A market with a big potential
A success story
Transporting your beer in heated trains in winter in a country the
size of Europe. It's not easy to sell beer in Kazakhstan. Yet the
sales of Amstel are growing with amazing speed.
Kazakhstan, once a state of the Soviet Union, is a vast and remote
country of 2.7 Mio square meters. Sharing its Eastern border with
China, it has a western border on the Caspian see, and is surroun
ded by Russia in the North and Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Kyrgyzstan in the South. Still some prestigious names would ring
a bell, like former Soviet spaceship launch pad Baïkonour, and
legendary Medeo "Ijsbaan" (ice skating ring) near Alma Ata.
Kazakhstan has a huge economic potential thanks to the vast oil
reserves and other valuable resources. It is now starting to bear
the fruit of that wealth: GDP is growing steadily and the rise in
purchasing power gives Dinal Brewery, a subsidiary of Heineken
and the brewer of Amstel, confidence for the future. Specially
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because the Kazakh beer market is by now relatively small
(2.5 mio HI), being a market of tea drinkers (99% of the population),
and alcohol wise still dominated by vodka. Beer consumption is
only 18 litres per capita, which leaves room for growth, as shows
the comparison with its big neighbour - Russia (50 litres per capita
in 2003). Consequently, there are high expectations for growth,
driven by the booming economy and the switch in consumption
pattern. As in Russia, the consumer in Kazakhstan swaps the
traditional drink vodka for beer.
The business and brand opportunity for Amstel in Kazakhstan was
identified by Thomas Hakkaart (Business Development Manager
Eastern Europe) and Joost van Roon (former Amstel International
Brand Manager now General Manager of Dinal). Together with
Lieven van der Borght (former Amstel International Marketing
Manager, now General Manager in Cambodia), they initiated the
launch of the Amstel brand via the Dinal Brewery in 2001, with the
