E-Malt.com News article: USA: Heineken Premium Light will be the second light beer sold in this country by Heineken

The initials stand for Heineken Premium Light, being introduced next week in bars by the United States arm of the Dutch brewer Heineken. Heineken Premium Light will be the second light beer sold in this country by Heineken, joining Amstel Light, introduced in the 1980's.

To reach the intended audience of drinkers — mostly men ages 25 to 29 — Heineken USA will unleash a barrage of advertising on Web sites like espn.com, foxsports.com, maximcom, msn.com, stuffmagazine.com and yahoo.com. The company will also put up a separate site, heinekenlight.com, on Wednesday to complement sites for its two other brands, amstellight.com and heineken.com.

The online campaign for Heineken Premium Light is the leading edge of a multimedia effort with a budget estimated at $50 million. The campaign will include television and radio commercials, print advertisements, outdoor signs, promotions and a campaign tailored to Spanish-speaking consumers. Some elements, like the TV spots, will not begin until the beer arrives in stores, which is scheduled for mid-April.

The decision to lead off with the Internet ads was made because the target market "is a little more tech-savvy," said Andy Glaser, brand director for Heineken at Heineken USA in White Plains, "so reaching them in the online space is important."

Heineken USA is finally bringing out a light beer with the Heineken name in an effort to capitalize on the growth of light beers, which now account for almost half of all American beer sales; imported beer accounts for about 12.5 percent of the total.

Amstel Light, which appeals to a somewhat older, female audience than Heineken Premium Light is meant to attract, is neck-and-neck with Corona Light as the best-selling imported light beer, said Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer's Insights, an industry newsletter in Nanuet, N.Y. Heineken is the No. 2 import over all, behind Corona Extra.

"There's always a risk of cannibalization," Mr. Steinman said, referring to the risk that Heineken Premium Light may lure drinkers from Amstel Light rather than competitive brands, "but it has potential."

"The most rapid growth in the beer market is in the high end, but light beer is very underrepresented in the high end," Mr. Steinman said. "I think the Heineken Premium Light target is the mainstream domestic market, Bud Light and Miller Lite and Corona Light, not other imports."

Indeed, Mr. Glaser said, "the opportunity with Heineken Premium Light lies with the domestic light beer drinker who on occasion wants to trade up."

Sales tests last year for the new brand — in Dallas; Phoenix; Providence, R.I.; and Tampa, Fla. — found "very minimal cannibalization with Amstel Light," he added, "and we also saw an interesting halo effect on the core Heineken brand as its growth accelerated in all four markets."

To woo the younger male consumers of domestic light beers, the Heineken Premium Light campaign will focus on a core attribute, smoothness. The initial ads carry headlines like "Someone smooth is waiting at the bar," "Meet someone smooth tonight" and "Succumb to smooth."

The goal is to entice the light beer drinker with "the notion of something a little better, a little more exciting," said Ewen Cameron, chief executive and executive creative director at Berlin Cameron United in New York, part of the United division of the WPP Group, which was awarded the Heineken Premium Light account in December.

"It's a relationship metaphor," Mr. Cameron said, adding: "We talked to light beer drinkers in their late 20's who said there's nothing wrong with light beer, but there's a kind of settling for it. They're happy, but the grass is a little greener on the other side. The 'luxury light' idea is an exciting notion."

Domestic brewers have also noticed this. Anheuser-Busch introduced a higher-priced light beer, Michelob Ultra Amber, with a campaign that started during Super Bowl XL on Feb. 5 and is continuing during the Winter Olympics.

And on Tuesday, Anheuser-Busch signed a deal to become the United States importer of brands sold by another Dutch brewer, Royal Grolsch, which is bringing out Grolsch Light Lager in five states. The deal is effective in January 2007. The introduction of Heineken Premium Light "is a very smart idea," said Michael Bellas, chairman and chief executive at the Beverage Marketing Corporation, a consulting company in New York, even if there is "a little bit of cannibalization of Amstel Light."

"This can open up a market that Heineken wasn't addressing," he added. As for Heineken's delay in coming out with a light beer bearing the name of its flagship brew, Mr. Bellas noted that the first light beer sold by Anheuser-Busch was called Natural Light; Bud Light did not follow for years. "Historically, companies wanted to maintain the integrity of their core brands," he added.

For that matter, the first diet soft drink sold by the Coca-Cola Company was named Tab; Diet Coke came two decades later.

The online campaign for Heineken Premium Light is being created by Modem Media, a division of Digitas that also handles interactive assignments for Amstel Light and Heineken.

"If you think of a 27-year-old guy, the Internet is an important part of his day," said Chris Harris, senior vice president and marketing director at Modem Media in East Norwalk, Conn., "and we need to be there."

The online campaign is to appear alongside coverage of subjects like entertainment, music and sports, he added, as well as in general-interest spaces like the home pages of the big portals MSN and Yahoo.

Chris J. Keil, executive director for sales at Yahoo in New York, said: "The product launch by Heineken is one example of a marketer extending the reach of its offline campaigns and creating more impact by integrating its approach. You will see more of this in the coming months."

The Hispanic campaign for Heineken Premium Light is being created by the Vidal Partnership in New York, which handles Spanish-language ads for Heineken USA.

Campaigns for Amstel Light and Heineken are created by Publicis Worldwide in New York, part of the Publicis Groupe. Adweek.com reported last week that Heineken USA was talking to at least two other agencies about ideas for Amstel Light. Willem Vander Hoeven, brand manager for Amstel Light at Heineken USA, said: "The brand is not in review. Publicis is the only agency working on the business."


24 February, 2006