BUSINESS
Growing Our Share
in the Americas
Two years after the acquisition of FEMSA's beer business, blockbuster brands
such as Dos Equis and Tecate Light are growing fast. John Nicolson, Regional
President for HEINEKEN in the Americas, tells us the groundwork has now been
laid, and it's time to focus on challenging for share.
T
he Americas is HEINEKEN's
largest region by volume.
JL It has well established
businesses in Mexico, the US, Brazil, the
Caribbean and significant joint ventures
in Central and South America. Organic
Group beer volume grew by 1.7 per cent
in 2011, as a result of higher volumes in
Brazil, the Caribbean, Chile and Argentina.
Heineken® volume grew marginally
overall, with strong brand growth in Brazil,
Chile and Argentina, while Dos Equis saw
double-digit growth in the US and Mexico.
Like-for-like earnings grew marginally as a
result of increased revenues being offset
by higher marketing investment, the solid
foundations that will act as a springboard
for HEINEKEN in 2012. "We're pleased with
the very good progress we've made against
our financial objectives, but we have more
to do on market share, something we'll
be talking about with our management
teams every single day," says John.
Despite being the third largest brewer
in the world, in many markets in
the Americas, HEINEKEN faces stiff
Up for the challenge: John
Nicolson, Regional President,
HEINEKEN The Americas
competition from two or three players
who dominate the market. "We're in a
challenger position in most of our markets
in the Americas," comments John. "Our
competitors are significantly larger than
us in this region. They've got deep pockets
when it comes to marketing.
"We have to approach business in these
markets differently than where we are the
clear market leader. For example, last year
in Mexico, we were slow to respond to price
discounting by the market leaders. When
you're a challenger, you have to follow
quickly and keep your cost base as low as
possible - something we've been successful
with over the last three years via our global
Total Cost Management programme."
Strong Start to 2012
The last year in the Americas saw a great
deal of activity from HEINEKEN in terms of
brand building, including updated brand
identities, new products, relaunches and
brand activation. John expects this to help
share growth going forward. "We've had a
strong start to this year. Our biggest brand
in the region, Tecate, is performing very
well and has undergone a repackaging.
Tecate Light is growing rapidly in Mexico,
commanding around 70 per cent of the
light beer market, which is also growing
rapidly. Following successful testing, we've
aligned the advertising of Tecate in the US
