Short report on Heineken

Essay by cafrCollege, UndergraduateA-, March 2003

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Heineken has been around for over a hundred years and is today the world's second best selling beer brand. In the 1970s and 80s the company used a very special ad campaign to break into the British and European markets. It focused on exaggerating the refreshing qualities of the beer. Despite the increasing competition they were successful and the sales tripled.

Gerald Adrian Heineken founded the Dutch company in the mid 80s. It grew fast as its founder toured Europe in search of new ideas and technologies. As a result the new bottom fermentation method was taken to use. Despite the death of Heineken in 1893 the company remained successful. After the liberation of Holland the company faced tough times due to the damage done by the depression in the 30s.

European sales increased steadily but the company still had problems breaking into the British markets. The "tied house" system of pubs and the taxation of strong brews made it hard to compete.

In 1951 a weaker lager was launched but sales remained disappointing until the 70s when lagers became more popular.

In the US markets the company had better results. Heineken was the first imported beer launched after the Prohibition was lifted. With premium branding it made it as America's favourite import.

The company insists that its strengths are the quality of the product and its ability to succeed overseas. With increases in the market forecast and new technologies the competition is set to intensify. It remains unclear whether the company can handled that and with increasing variety in premium imports they could loose their premium image.

Today's beer drinkers are not as loyal to brands as before and are more willing to try different ones. This is bad news to mass producers like Heineken and it only remains...