Surya Teja Adury Heineken Global Branding and Advertising Case Study

What are Heinekens strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths
Heineken is world's leading premier beer known for its good taste, rich tradition and
history. It's packaging is one of the best in the industry. It's the leader in the
Netherland market, and the number one imported beer in US market. Successful
premium brand image globally. It has majority stakes in its existing and prospective
partners to ensure tighter control in production and marketing. It also has significant
advertising budget at its disposal. They've managed to usually come up with high
quality advertisements.
Weaknesses
Lack of global presence in bottling business. In the major beer-consuming market,
Germany and US its imported and not bottled. Lack of presence in Latin America.
Viewed as just one of many imported European beers in Latin America. Perceived
premium brand image in some markets, which resulted in decline of sales volume
across all the market. Heinekens brand image is not being consistently projected
in Brands communication. Brand loyalty needs to be build on, in Eastern Europe
people keep on switching brands.
Is Heineken a global brand? Evaluate the research? What has been learnt?
How can the Heineken brand be developed through marketing
communication?
Yes, Heineken is a global brand. It is present in a lot of different markets but these
differ in their life cycle. It is an evolved brand in a few markets and not so evolved in
a few others. Heineken will need to keep this in mind to leverage their position in
different markets. Heineken has to find the right balance between global image and
local message.
The promise of being the world's leading premium quality beer will remain the
same, but the reason to believe it differ in different, and it is here that the local
brand teams will need to pitch in and contribute, provide reasons, locally.
What should be the role of Heinekens headquarter in shaping the marketing
of the brand worldwide?
While the head office will communicate fundamental brand values, they'll need to
empower the local teams to remember and acknowledge local differences. The key
is to find the right balance between the two. The uniformity in message throughout
the world is key, so the headquarters will need to send out broad guidelines and
give local teams enough freedom to experiment.