Three cheers for a Tiger
"Fantastic teamwork is really at the heart of our success."
Panya Pongtanya, General Manager of TAPB
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
In August 1995, Thai Asia Pacific Brewery (TAPB) opened in
Bangkok, Thailand. It was a brave move, to market and
distribute the Heineken brand in South East Asia's leading
economy—a country of 65 million people. TAPB (a joint venture
between the Thai Life Insurance Group, Asia Pacific Brewery
Singapore, Thai Pure Drinks and Thai Military Bank) entered a
fiercely competitive beer market littered with the failed
attempts of previous brewers.
A decade later, TAPB has not only survived but thrived, brewing and
marketing three brands in the high, middle and low tiers of the beer
market, dominating the premium beer segment with a 95% share.
"Thai Asia Pacific Brewery is currently registering the highest sales
volume of Heineken Beer in all of Asia, as well as ranking seventh in the
world," says Panya Pongtanya, General Manager of TAPB. "More importantly,
our rapid pursuit of quantity has not been at the expense of quality."
When asked the recipe for success in such a difficult market, Pongtanya
replies: "These successes flow from the superb cooperation between
Heineken in the Netherlands, Asia Pacific Breweries in Singapore and our
Thai operation here. Fantastic teamwork is really at the heart of our
success. Especially as we sometimes see the internal differences that
challenge our competitors, we realise how the local team's willingness to
learn from its international partners and to work collaboratively with them
is a priceless competitive advantage."
"Next to that, we've done some excellent work on brand-building,"
Pongtanya says, pointing to Jeff Kimble, TAPB's Commercial Director.
"A Heineken commercial made Thai advertising history last year by
becoming the first Thai-produced ad to win a gold award in the 'use of
media' category at the world's most prestigious international advertising
competition held annually at Cannes, France," Kimble says. He believes
there is still room for Heineken to grow, even after securing 95% of the
premium segment. "Apart from outstanding advertising, innovation will be
at the heart of growing this segment, claiming even more share from our
competitors as well as expanding the entire segment. We will need to be
strong innovators in three key areas: our advertising, our packaging and
our distribution."
Piya Smutkochorn, Brand Manager for Heineken in Thailand, cites the
example of the Heineken half-litre can as a packaging innovation that has
caught the imagination of the Thai beer drinker. "Heineken was the first
beer in Thailand to launch half-litre size 'big cans'. The new packaging has
been phenomenally successful and we are now selling five times the volume
that was initially anticipated."
Pongtanya says the way forward for TAPB lies in becoming successful in
all major tiers of the Thai beer market. His strategy for doing that is to
make TAPB a portfolio brewery with at least one major brand in each tier.
To accommodate the anticipated growth, TAPB last year doubled its
production capacity from one million to two million hectolitres annually.
"Shortly after expanding our brewing capacity," Kimble says, "we
launched Tiger Beer in July 2004. Tiger is Asia's most award-winning beer
and is our brand for the middle tier of the market, known in Thailand as the
Standard segment. It offers premium quality at a good price. It is
The Heineken Green Carpet Party on the
rooftop of Bangkok's Central World Plaza.
