Heineken
^1
more than 15,000 objects
have been added to the
collection; categorised and
registered to preserve the rich
and marvellous history of
Holland's leading brewery
Holland Beer
Advertising
The Heineken Historical Collection contains a massive amount of
advertising material, for Heineken as well as for the Amstel brand.
Specialty coasters and bottles, novelty glasses and mugs, old neon signs
and intricately decorated ashtrays. You'll find them all on the shelves of the
Heineken Collection.
Then, of course, there are the posters - colourful advertising
campaigns dating back to the early 1930s, right through to the present
day. The classic poster from the 1980s Heineken Refreshes campaign in the
UK, for example, featuring Star Trek's Mr Spock and his pointy ears. This
amusing - and at the time controversial - advertising poster was in 2005
hailed by MediaWeek's Pat Chaundry as the greatest beer poster ever
produced.
"At the moment we are trying to set up a system where old
photographic and advertising items can be reproduced and sold to the
general public," Annesietske says. "Reproductions are already available to
Heineken staff, and we have also sold large amounts of material to café
and bar owners in Holland and abroad. Even a nightclub as far away as Rio
de Janeiro has expressed interest in ordering Heineken material."
The popularity of advertising material isn't limited to the hospitality
industry. The retro style is very 'in', with trendy or quirky objects of the
past in high demand. It is very fashionable these days to have a classic
Heineken poster hanging on your wall - next to your BeerTender in the
kitchen, perhaps?
"We are hoping to make our photo and advertising gallery available via
the Internet, so that people outside the Heineken organisation can order
and purchase quality reproductions of all our material. Again, this is part of
the strategy to make the Heineken Historical Collection more accessible."
"This Collection plays such an important role in preserving Heineken's
long history for future generations," Annesietske said as she picked up a
small, delicate photograph of a brewhouse at the old Heineken brewery in
Rotterdam. The black-and-white image was taken in the late 1920s,
featuring a brewing chamber decorated with intricately carved pillars,
polished copper tanks, patterned floor tiles and beautifully crafted stained-
glass windows. "You don't see breweries like this anymore. Everything was
so carefully designed, with such attention to detail. It's these qualities that
have made the Heineken company a success and it is these qualities that
need to be remembered."
