Have you ever see a special green color when you watch Melbourne cup? Have you ever see the green color when you watch AFL? Have you ever see that green color when you watch UEFA Champions League, FIFA world cup even in Olympics games. Yes! That green color is Heineken.
Freddy Heineken served as Chairman of the Board of directors and CEO from 1971 until 1989. During this period Heineken sold their beer to other countries in Europe, as well as North America, Australia, Asian, Africa and South America. As of 2012, Heineken owns over 190 breweries in more than 70 countries and employs approximately 85,000 people
Why Heineken become the most famous beer around the world? The efficiency of IMC is the key for Heineken getting those successful achievements in world beer market.
IMC(integrated marketing communications) weaves diverse aspects of business and marketing togetherWhen these diverse aspects of business and marketing are weaved together properly, an effective campaign can be achieved. Effective campaigns are demonstrated on the Integrated Brands showcase which recognizes brands that are innovative, strategic and successfully growing their sales. By effectively leveraging each communication channel, a greater impact can be achieved together than achieved individually
In integrated marketing communications, consumers is the core, the company has to meet customer needs for the purpose of customer demand, establishing a brand that has a high status in consumers minds, This can contribute in maintain long-term relationships and achieve a win-win situation for both consumers and businesses.
Integrated marketing communication refers to all information conveyed to consumers, including advertising, sales promotion, direct reflection of advertising, event marketing, packaging, advertisement in an advantageous way for the product. Each piece of information should make it whole and echo each other, if the process is successful, it will be conveyed to consumers by the same brand message and therefore builds brand equity.
Since 1999, Heineken in the global marketing of the investment costs up to 14% of the company’s annual revenue of about $ 815 million. Heineken beer skillfully advertised in entertainment shows and various international sporting events. In many major tennis tournament events, concerts and film festivals, people can see Heineken’s green logo. Also Heineken commercial is everywhere around our life. No matter you are strolling on the street or just open your television, you always see Heineken’s interesting ads which leaves strong impression to the pubic.
Heineken realized that the younger generation of beer consumption capacity improved, so the youth market has become the main battlefield. Now the main task at this stage is that the Heineken should not only focus on young customers, they cannot alienate middle- aged beer drinkers, because the latter is Heineken’s core customers.
In you opinion, do you wish to try Heineken’s beer after you watch their commercial advertisement? Do you think Heineken is successful in IMC strategy? If you are the CEO of Heineken, what would you like to do to improve IMC strategy? Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Sources:
https://prezi.com/xxf0uljdfxta/heineken-case/
http://www.heineken.com/au/home.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_marketing_communications
https://prezi.com/ocf5orzqdm2w/heineken/
Marketing Management Blog T1 2015 
In my opinion Heineken engages in a fair share of ATL and BTL marketing initiatives (especially in Asia where there are a flood of billboards, TV & digital commercials, promotional girls at clubs and bars, and sports sponsorship) showing IMC. Heineken have successfully built brand equity, conveying a quality and consistent image through their various advertising channels. If I were the CEO of Heineken I would consider STP and various channels that could reach the female segment, create a product that would appeal more to females in Asian countries ie Japan (where drinking is highly accepted in society), Hong Kong, China, Vietnam and Thailand. I would incorporate digital marketing to reach the younger generation alongside traditional advertising channels ie. Billboards and TV commercials (during high female traffic times) and co-branding iniatives.
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As a 25 year old male, I have found various Heineken advertisements very effective. The last one I recall was a television commercial for Skyfall (James Bond) which was sponsored by Heineken (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHz30rlNHCc). For myself, I found this advertisement something that engaged me well. I have even been to the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam and would certainly say I have a positive attitude towards the brand. Consistency is what I have found has built Heineken to where they are today. As CEO of Heineken, I would concentrate on advertising campaigns which are interactive, whether online interaction or event type interaction with physical challenges for consumers at events. By creating fun experiences with the brand, consumers will come to associate positive attitudes and in turn, help further develop brand equity.
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I would definitely like to try Heineken after watching these advertisements. heineken has relly interesting ads and by such advertisement they surely build some loyalty as they are targeting men in their advertisements and showing that they are closely related or associated and focused on serving men. hence they surely are following an effective IMC strategy.
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Personally being part of Heineken’s target market, I do feel the advertisements speaking to me. However because I do not like beer myself, the ad does not break down the barrier of my memory with beer tastes.
As I know a few people with the same feeling as me, the only way I could see Heineken to break these barriers would be to do taste testings.
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Very interesting post!
Heineken is my favourite beer! It has become the world’s leading premium brand. It has been engaged in many sponsoring events such as sporting events and concerts hence it has built the Heineken experience. On television, Heineken has features of humor, family values, friendship, trust, romance, happiness and aspirational lifestyles. There are also testimonials by celebrities, which also add onto the brand equity. As Heineken follows a global strategy of expansion, standardization of marketing communications is a necessary step. A global branding strategy will lower marketing costs, realize economies of scale in production and clarify the brands positioning in the minds of customers. If I were the CEO of Heineken, I would promote sponsoring events on social networks and attract and interact with young customers from online.
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Thank you for share.
In my opinion, Heineken is a very successful brand. First of all, Heineken use green successgully to attract the attention of consumers, so that consumers remember quickly through the green Heineken brand, when customers see green, they will think of Heineken. The CEO of Heineken is very smart to use of advertising in the entertainment and sporting events, such as large basketball event, tennis event, etc. Regardless of consumers who are in the stadium or watch the game via a network or television, when they will see the green flag and Heineken ads. In other words, I think the CEO of Heineken is very wise, with a color in the visual occupation of consumers, it is clear that Heineken’s advertising is very successful.
I very much agree with your blog in the sentence taht is ‘in integrated marketing communications, consumers is the core’, I think the core users is very important, to recognize who are the core of the user. For Heineken, although the younger generation of consumer spending to improve, but we can not ignore the middle-aged’s beer love, I agree with what you said in the blog is the core of middle-aged consumer Heineken.
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I certainly appreciate the fact that Heineken make great ads that are clever, entertaining and beautifully produced, however, as a non-beer drinker they do nothing for me in terms of actually convincing me to purchase their product. But I do know their brand and have good brand associated memories (who doesn’t enjoy hanging out at the Heinekin tent at the Aus open!) so I expect for those who enjoy beer their IMC strategy is probably quite effective.
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I am not into beers so honestly never paid attention to its advertisement but I do know that heinekin is a brand of beer, my lack of knowledge about its advertisement made me wonder that may be that’s where the IMC of heinekin is lacking, to bring familiarity to the brand even from customers who are not into beer can be a challenge for the IMC and this challenge should be taken up by heinekin as social approval for beer acceptance may be required from such population, this is an area which can be exploited well, if i would have been the CEO than this would have been one of the agenda on my to-do list.
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Heineken is my favourite beer. Maybe this is because of the taste, but I think more of the reason behind this is because Heineken is so good at its IMC strategy that I unknowingly associate good beer with Heineken. Interestingly, in one of my previous marketing units, I was told that lots of Heineken’s competitors were moving their operations to America but Heineken chose not too and because of this, it was able to maintain its prestigiousness by being a “foreign” beer and lots of the competitors failed as they lost this factor.
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As asgreen2015 mentioned, the most memorable campaign for me was the one that they associated their brand with the mega successful James Bond Franchise. I thought this was very clever marketing. They have also recently used the strategy of naming popular cities around the world on their bottles but im not entirely sure if this increased interest in the product?
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Heineken as a famous brand did a good job in advertisement, since the main target of beer is male, Heineken sponsored a lot of sports games and you can easily see their advertisement everywhere. Although I like Corona more than Heineken, but I have to admit that Heineken’s marketing advertisement is very effective, it makes people easy to remember and want to try their products.
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One of the challenges when brands reach the scale of Heineken is that they may lose the niche appeal that made them successful to begin with. When I was in my early 20s and working in the restaurant trade, Heineken was consider a boutique beer in Australia and the market awareness and brand recall was no where near the level it is now. However, the success of their marketing initiatives have made it mainstream, such that it is unlikely that they are now able to justify the price/markup that they did in the early days when their market penetration was not as high.
I guess this is a reflection of their stage in the product life cycle.
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I am not a beer drinker but I don’t mind drinking Heineken occasionally. Heineken has a strong brand equity in the society especially with their green trademark. However, I don’t think Heineken is as strong as VB or other Australian beer in Australia. In a footy match, do you see more people buy Heineken or VB? Could it be because Australian prefer to drink local beers or is it because Heineken’s brand equity in Australia is not as strong as in any other country? http://www.smh.com.au/business/heineken-lion-beer-sales-slow-in-australia-but-profits-rise-20150306-13w94i.html
if the answer is because they dont have strong brand equity in Australia then they need to be stronger to increase their sales. They need to find out what they are lacking and how they can penetrate more into Australian market. One of the option is they might need to become a major sponsor in any big event in Australia to increase their sales and create stronger brand equity.
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Heineken certainly has a strong Integrated Marketing Campaign. As you have correctly pointed out they have a strong, interesting advertising campaigns.Within Australia it is of interest that their sales have dropped in the last year due to the fact that it has begun brewing locally in a joint venture with Lion rather than importing the bottles.
I would suggest that Heineken needs to undertake a more direct Australian marketing campaign as they previous comments suggested, however I don’t believe that the large branding exercise of sponsoring a major sport will work. There is now confusion as to what they are trying to achieve and as such they need to re-educate the market to change the perception from just another local brand to one that can compete with the local craft beers, even though owned by a major conglomerate.
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Though don’t consume alcohol Heineken is a brand I know so well . From years of watching soccer I remember the green color in the champions league video and the advertisement boards in the stadiums. yes I wish to try , just because I’ve seen it so much and it created in my mind a good picture of good times while watching soccer . this IMC strategy created the need of Heineken next to you while watching the games . If I was the CEO of Heineken the first think i would do to improve my IMC strategy is localize it , to attache it to the local community . Heineken is viewed as international beer everywhere while its made locally in many countries. add local experience and local figures to the product.
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Will I try Heineken after watching their ads, In my case it is not driven by the ad but my past experience with few other beer brands and the familiarity, of course Heineken is one of the items in my preferred list next to Corona.
Of course their IMC has been very successful and that has contributed to their success largely, most importantly the product has lived up to the expectation / hype that was created by the IMC. One thing they have been doing well is giving a consistent message with a consistent brand image that consumers will easily remember.
I am sure they are not targeting everyone who drink beer, but there is a segment who prefer that sort of beer as there are number of varieties / tastes out there and not everyone is up for the taste of Heineken. That’s where a good STP strategy will help to identify the key segments that they are / they should be targeting. and then improve their 4Ps accordingly. One of the areas that Heineken needs to improve bit more would on their distribution network and make it available for customers, especially if they want to compete with different local brands in different parts of the world.
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An interest generating marketing does improves brand awareness but how much does it result in actual sales depends on a lot of factors. When it comes to something related to personal preferences I would say it does increases the first time curiosity buy but repurchase of the same item happens only when the first experience was good and not because of the marketing.
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Heineken does a very good job when it comes to IMC. I think a key to their strategy is to carry the brand into high profile sports events. They know who their customers are and they position their media spend accordingly. This is one company that has recognized the value of big spends when it comes to sports campaigns. What is becoming more apparent to me is that an IMC needs to be diverse. The clever marketing boys and girls need to make sure that they evenly spend their budget across a number of mediums (Large campaigns such as sports events take a significant amount of money and planning), TV good for consistent reach and internet with social media, it all needs to be included as there are different customers in that segment and some customers respond differently to different mediums. I think Heineken cover the mediums very well from advertising to billboards to in-pub posters, Youtube etc.
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As a extremely soccer fan I think Heineken is applying a really effective IMC strategy to be recognised as a ” Good ” brand. It doesn’t mean that every time you watch the brand, you need to have a beer in your hand. I really think is more an emotional strategy that make feel the costumers in the situation. For sure if you are soccer fan, every time you listen or watch the bran “Heineken” you are just imaging the UEFA Champions League Anthem and why not look at yourself standing up in the middle of the ground. I will never forget how the company integrate their costumers in such a way they were looking for a young executive to work for them and they announce that he was hired just before the Final of the UCL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5im9ZA3WK3w
Heineken is a clear example of IMC creating and awaking feeling of each costumer that have contact with the brand.
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sometimes the color is the best signal for a single brand, like tiffany & co. that people naturally associate tiffany jewelries when see tiffany blue any time. and here green is the signal of heineken in the beer market. for heineken, it success in IMC because marketers know what is the key point to attract customers, who are customers they are targeting and what customers really need. Heineken’s marketers are clever since sponsorship in sports events is a great way to arouse awarenesses of the brand, and will increase the brand reputation.
However, previously Heineken has no advertising to attract female customers, that they will lost some market shares. in future times, Heineken maybe can pay more attention to the segment of female consumers and try to appeal to their needs since more and more young girls like to drink beers nowadays.
In Singapore, boys will always choose heineken because they like the taste of heineken, and the most important reason is that they can only drink Tiger(Singapore local beer brand) when they serve in army, and after they finish their serves, they won’t drink Tiger anymore, thus heineken becomes their first choice. but for girls, heineken’s taste is a little bit strong, and all advertisings are telling them ‘Heineken is the best beer for you to enjoy with sports’, thus only few of girls will choose for it.
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The adds dont tempt me, maybe if I was a guy. I dont tend to drink Heineken when I have a beer, I opt for the clear bottles, preferencing a Corona. Not sure where it ranks in terms of beer purchased in Australia but it does bring back fond memories of travelling and if I was in Europe I would probably choose it because of its brand awareness.
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For whoever like sports and watch almost any game played on television, it is obvious that Heineken invest a lot of money on Integrated Marketing Communication and has selected the mix of television advertising and sports as their primary way to distribute their message. As a fan of the brand, I just love almost every commercial they play, and I don´t change the channel when I´m watching a Champions League game and the Heineken advertising take over the half-time rest. However, I don´t drink Heineken when I go out to a bar for a beer or when I buy beer at the grocery store to take home (unless it is at a good discount), instead of that, I like other brands better such as Corona or Carlton Draught, the last one, which I just know from 5 months ago since I arrived in Australia. Compare to Heineken that I had been exposed for more than 15 years. To conclude, my point is that a company can have the best IMC strategy, people can remember the brand and talk about their great advertisements, but that means nothing if it does not materialize on sales. Still, I love Heineken´s ads and share one of my favorites on the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLhGcvPj6z0
Regards,
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according to my experience, the more beer you drink, the more you will realize Bud Light and Miller light have less flavor and you can drink so much of it. Heineken is popular because of how pretty the bottles look and the marketing. It’s more of an acquired taste than most beers, but I actually think Heineken is one of the best beers ever. Taste nothing like Heineken.
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The Heineken’s commercials shown are really playing up to gender stereotypes in a humorous way. It would be interesting to see them mix it up to also appear appealing to women.
I think Corona do a good job at marketing to both genders. They market their beer as a ‘way of life’. Think holidays, freedom, youth.
I am not a beer drinker and in no way would their IMC make me want to try their product but in saying that I do enjoy their advertising strategy and it would make me purchase their beer for the men in my life.
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Love this ad, and it does make be want to be there drinking Corona, than be here attempting my reflection assignment.
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This beer is really the brand which i like to consume. Not only the taste, but as its IMC strategy does really influent me, especially on ‘UEFA Champions League Ads”. Since i love football (soccer), and watch this competition, so that i’ve seen this ads on TV many times. It does make and encourage me to have a drink while i’m watching that Football match. i feel like its almost perfect moment when i’m doing it.
However, the company still have to consider about what strategy on persuading people who is not a beer drinker, to be wanting to try this product rather than other brands.
Nice post !
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I don’t notice Heineken ads because I don’t like beer and I am not their target market. I know the label is green and I have noticed their outside advertising – billboards and sporting events, but I can’t think of any tv ads. So no, the ad didn’t make me want to drink Heineken. However it seems that more women drink more beer these days so perhaps I would target women next if I were CEO. Or would this create too many segments/alienate the male Heineken drinkers?
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As the third largest brewer in the world, surely Heineken does a good job in it’s marketing. I don’t notice many people drinking Heineken around me, but I do know Lion, who had 47.5% of the beer volume market share in Australia in 2013, had a joint venture with Heineken in 2004.
I love soccer, love to watch UEFA Champions League, and notice Heineken’s great green ads. However in Australia, Heineken isn’t that noticeable to me.
Thanks
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Watching a Heineken beer commercial doesn’t make me want to drink their beer. To be honest, I don’t really remember too many of their commercials because their commercials and campaigns are specifically targeted at males, and females are obviously not their target market!
Having said that however, Heineken is a successful brand and is clever in its IMC strategy because it employs various approaches and techniques to convey its message of Heineken being a beer that is fun and entertaining. They use mediums such as tv, celebrity endorsements, internet, social media, events and sponsorships, merchandising, and word of mouth to deliver a consistent message to its consumers. IMC also allows companies to look at the whole marketing picture and re-think their communications, therefore enabling more effective marketing programs. It allows real time communication and feedback which is always beneficial when creating and implementing a successful marketing strategy.
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Thank you for this great article! Well, I always wish to try Heineken’s beer after watch their commercial advertisement 😀 In Germany Heineken advertisement is really comment and so I remember some of its ads. But I agree with the comment that Heineken should develop an alternative for females. Maybe something like Beck’s lemon. And to catch the younger target group the brand should maybe do more activities on social media.
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Nice blog, I’m a huge fan a beer and after watching Heineken’s ads on TV they have induced me into trying it out. I think reaching out to he audience thru commercials or sponsorships in sports is a brilliant idea as almost everyone watches sports. Only drawback here would be that they don’t try to reach out to women, focusing on that would be beneficial to them.
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Heineken in Australia already has the leg up as drinking beer is a strong part of the Australian culture. There strategy of IMC through commercial events that hold the attention of key demographics will always prove an effective strategy.
I think the challenges for the company is that Australia is spoilt for choice and there is a is a huge shift towards the micro brewery and craft beer. I feel that such big corporations like Heineken often lack the agility to change with the market. That is why these multinational need to start embedding innovation cells into their local markets so they are not always chasing their tails.
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Heineken has really amazing promotions and by such commercial they clearly construct some steadfastness as they are focusing on men in their ads and demonstrating that they are firmly related and concentrated on serving men. sponsoring top sport tournaments like fifa wc , uefa champions league, afl and many more tournaments allow there popularity to grow. they clearly are taking after a powerful IMC procedure.
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