The recently launched Date commercial for mild premium beer brand Heineken catches the eye for more reasons than one. The edgy cinematography and exciting soundtrack apart, what is instantly recognisable is the voice of singer Mohammed Rafi who belts out Jaan Pehchaan Ho, a song from the 60s Bollywood movie Gumnaam. The commercial, created by Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam is a sequel to the “The Entrance’ commercial unveiled by the agency a few months ago.
This global campaign launched mid last year, coincided with the launch of the Heineken brand in India, and elucidates the new focus of the brand. “Earlier the focus was on product and situations, but now the entire focus is to showcase the ‘man’ who drinks Heineken,” say Samar Singh Sheikhawat, senior vice president (marketing), United Breweries.
So how much was Mohammed Rafi’s presence a conscious decision? Sheikhawat dismisses this as ‘pure coincidence’, and claims Heineken’s philosophy is to be a brand that does not owe its allegiance to any country. “While Carlsberg is clearly Danish, Budweiser is very American and Kingfisher brings to mind India; with Heineken we want to be the beer of the world,” says Sheikhawat, drawing reference to the ‘Born in Amsterdam, Raised in the World’ campaign launched by the brand a few years ago.
| SNAPSHOT * Heineken has a 37.5% stake in UB Group, which retails brands like Kingfisher Blue, Kingfisher Premium, Kingfisher Ultra, Kingfisher Blue, Kingfisher Strong, and Kingfisher Draught, Zingaro and Bullet among others * Heineken is present in 7-10 markets in India and wants to scale up to 18-20 cities this year. * Heineken is sold in 170 countries around the world, brewed in 48 countries, with 63 breweries across the world |
That said, the Indian element might do some convincing to the Indian consumer in a country where beer consumption is minuscule compared to the West. Indians consumed 1.3 litres of beer per person, as opposed to Americans who guzzled 300 litres per person, ever year.
Heineken is going the whole hog in exploiting the digital medium to reach its target consumer. “Digital is a very large part of the Heineken initiative, both globally and in India,” says Sheikhawat, who says 20 percent of overall Heineken marketing spends in India are on the digital platform. “A robust digital strategy helps the brand stay young, tech savvy,” says Sheikhawat who has initiated Heineken’s presence on You-Tube, Facebook and Twitter.
The decision though a global one works well for the Indian market, where there is an embargo on television advertising of alcohol and tobacco products.
To promote Heineken, the company is also associating itself with events like Star Grill (in partnership with grill maker Weber) at premium bars and clubs and Heineken Tonite, a special evening where bars exclusively sell Heineken beer. These events have been initiated in the eight cities the brand currently retails, and will be increased in a staggered manner as the brand scales up nationally.
Since the domestic production of Heineken began mid August this year (earlier Heineken was available through the import route) at the Taloja facility in Maharashtra, the brand introduced the latest global packaging in the country. “Be it the clear plastic labels, imported crowns or glass from St Gobain, our packaging is superior to any brand in the country,” says Sheikhawat, furthering his sales pitch.
Domestic production also means better pricing for Heineken. “There has been a 30-40 percent reduction in prices,” says Sheikhawat as he points to the two stock keeping units of the brand: quart (650ml) and pint (330ml). “Currently two-third of sales come from pints,” notes Sheikhawat who is considering introducing cans in the next few months.
For United Breweries, which occupies 44 per cent of beer volume sales in India, gaining a foothold in the market will not be easy. Remember India is a strong beer market (dominates 80 per cent of total beer sales) and Indians largely consumer alcohol to get a kick. This is another reason why within total alcohol sales too, spirits dominate 75 per cent of total alcohol sales, in sharp contrast to alcohol sales in other parts of the world, where beer occupies three-fourth of sales. The taxation policies of course do not help the sales of mild beer. “Unlike India, globally taxes are based on alcohol content rather than volume,” says Pradeep Gidwani, co-founder, Beer Cafe and ex-managing director, Carlsberg India.
So while strong beer will continue to dominate (Kingfisher Strong is UB’s largest grossing beer), Sheikhawat is upbeat on the prospects for mild beer, especially the super-premium variety. “With growing affluence and education, there will be more consumers who will drink beer for refreshment” says Sheikhawat. “Thus, we needed an international brand to play in that segment.” Sister brand Kingfisher also has a variant Kingfisher Ultra in the same segment, the company does not see cannibalisation claiming there is enough headroom for growth.
Given the target audience is largely restricted to the metros and the upper strata in tier 2 cities, Heineken will be promoted in bars and clubs, which bring in 50 per cent of sales. Sheikhawat sees the tier 2 markets have scope elaborating, ‘today a consumer in planters club in Darjeeling is no different from a consumer in Bangalore club.” Retail is a critical channel, says Sheikhawat, who believes ‘unless a liquor brand does well in retail it will fail’. While Heineken will piggyback on United Breweries distribution network, it is investing heavily in high quality point of purchase material to nurture the brand.
The learnings from the premium mild beer Kingfisher Ultra (launched two years ago) will give Heineken an advantage. “Placing fresh stock in the marketplace, high quality activations and point of sale merchandise are some learnings from Ultra which we will implement with Heineken,” says Sheikhawat.
Competition, however is sitting idle. Beer sales in Western markets have been subdued, convincing brewers to look at Asian countries like India more closely. “We are now fighting the three largest beer companies in the world, be it Anheusher Busch In-Bev, SAB Miller or Carlsberg,” says Sheikhawat. All of them have introduced their swishy offerings in India. For example, the second largest player by volume, SAB Miller has Peroni (super premium) Miller High Life and Foster’s, Carlsberg with Carlberg and Tuborg whereas Budweiser too has taken significant price increases.
The battle for share of throat only got more intense, as United Breweries rears what Sheikhawat calls the “new born baby” in its portfolio.
