ASSIGNMENT

1. Strengths:
Heineken has a wide market base. It has excellent promotional strategies. It was the most heavily advertised premium brand in Europe and worldwide. It has a unique taste and a loyal customer base. It is very popular amongst customers as its mentioned in Exhibit 3 that in the Overall Market Share Position, it was the largest selling brand in the premium segment. It was the number one imported beer in US and was the market leader in Netherlands. It had some acquisitions with international distribution which enhanced its sales. In Exhibit 3,in Overall SOV position among beer brands advertised, it is mentioned that in all markets except the UK, Heineken SOV ranked first or second in the premium segment.

Weaknesses:
Heineken was seen as a social statement rather than for daily consumption. Heineken could not influence how a licensee marketed its own brands. Some licensees did not maintain a sufficient price premium for the Heineken brand over their own national brands. Many partners had international ambitions for its domestic brands which should not have been that way. National brands still dominated the market in Germany, which was the heaviest beer consuming country in Europe, and Heineken was available only through imports. Yes it is a global brand because of the following reasons: It acquired brands such as Amstel, Buckler, Murphys Stout and sold its product in Ireland, United Kingdom, Indonesia etc. In 1937, it granted its first license to a foreign brewer to produce Heineken beer according to the original formula. In Europe, it owned outright its operations in the Netherlands, France and Ireland. It was not bottled in large United States market, but was the number one imported beer there. 2. There were two research projects commissioned to clarify Heinekens brand identity and the impolications for television advertising.

Project Comet-It defined five components of heinekens global brand identity and explored
how they be expressed in heinekens brand communications. Project Mosa-It involved a different team of executives that identified the expressions of taste and friendship that had the most appeal and explored how they should be expressed in Heineken television advertising.

So if we look at Project Comet and Project Mosa,we find that they were trying to access whether conclusions of both the studies were mutually consistent so that they could standardize Heinekens brand image and advertising worldwide.

Learnings from Project Comet:

All of their advertising should be impactful and it shouldnt be safe to achieve the desired effect. They also came to know that the taste and premiumness were the core features and tradition, winning spirit and friendship were the differentiating factors and they had to portray all these in Heineken brand commercial.

Learnings from Project Mosa:

In this they classified the similar factors that were there in Project Comet under two categories-The Head(Taste, Brand Vision, Quality, Brewing Skills, Availability, Tradition) and the Heart(Friendship, Trust, Sports, Respect).Then they conducted focused group discussion which showed results that were consistent with the Project Comet. The first focused group discussion stated that everyone (all the countries) wanted good taste and experience. The Italians and Americans wanted good after taste and the Americans wanted freshness too. The other main features which impacted the product quality were foam, drinkability and the after effects. They also found out that the company occasions and role of bear varied from premium to standard in a big way. When they found out about the taste expression the quality mattered the most along with tradition and when it came to friendship expression the reliability on Heineken and true friends showed great results. Thus after looking at the two tests it can be concluded that the goal of creating a standardized Heinekens brand image and advertising worldwide can be attained through the factors of taste, friendship, premiumness and tradition as all these four showed consistent results in both the tests.

3. The Heineken brand can be developed through marketing communications in the following manner: For building the Heinekens desired good taste brand image, all the five core brand values (Taste, Premiumness, Tradition, Winning Spirit, Friendship) should be reflected in one way or another through the locations, situations, relationships, casting, lighting, style, and tone used in each of their commercials. For effective communication of the brand values, they should be communicated in the following manner: The product should be shown in slow-pouring shots where its golden colour, sparkling texture and refreshing coolness would celebrate its taste. This would attract customers toward its unique taste. The Premiumness should be presented as part of the brand promise, it should be a unique reason for purchase. They should maintain the required standards of a premium brand. They should target people who believe in true values and whose brand choices reflected their personal value set. Their Winning Spirit should be conveyed through the tone of voice of each commercial. They should convey the brand value Friendship by showing few people enjoying their relationship and showing them as themselves, content, relaxed and confident.

They need impactful and effective advertising to deliver all these values to build the good taste brand image .All these features were consistent with Project Mosa and thus all these features can be used to give Heineken a standard brand image.

4. The headquarters should focus on building the brand image as the worlds leading premium beer. Heineken has a unique taste and being a symbol of premiumness, taste, and tradition around the world they should use catchy television commercials with competitive and attractive slogans to attract customers towards its taste. They should portray all the five core brand values(Taste, Premiumness, Tradition, Winning Spirit, Friendship) in their brand commercials for developing a unique and differentiated image. Their advertising should be leading edge and state of art, taking calculated risks and initiatives to achieve the desired effects.