What are Heineken's strengths and weaknesses? Is Heineken a global brand?
Strengths:
- Lighter Beer of Superior Quality.
- Attractive Packaging.
- Special Taste, maintained for almost a century.
- Distinct image of premium brand outside Netherlands associated with Special occasions.
- Enjoys Market Leader reputation. 2nd globally in terms of litres sales.
- Strong Heritage of Quality Beer.
- Global brewing operations through majority/minority equity stakes and Licensees.
- Heavily advertised by Television commercials.
- Global availability.
- Brand recognition and credibility amongst consumers.
Weaknesses:
- Heineken brand contributed only 25% of total liter sales under Heineken’s supervision.
- Emerging markets like Asia and Africa contributed only 14% of the total sales.
- Netherlands and Europe constituted 70% of total sales, and were characterized by Price competition and margin pressures.
- No production in heavy beer consumption countries like Germany and United States of America.
- Heineken had no control over marketing and pricing of its Licensee’s own brands.
- Unified Television advertising only aimed at larger markets.
- Local television advertising was also used to address local competition.
- Inconsistent Brand Image.
Heineken, a Global Brand?
Though Heineken enjoys a global presence and recognition across several markets, but the brand perception for Heineken varies across the globe. While it was considered a mainstream beer in Netherlands, outside Netherlands people considered it as a premium brand; some associating it with special occasions and some considering it as a premium imported beer. The challenge for Heineken to establish itself as a global brand is to define and effectively communicate Heineken’s Core Values uniformly, while at the same time customizing the communication to local market/consumer such that an emotional connection can be established with the consumers. Its only when Heineken manages the relationship between the global brand and the local consumer that they will have a strong global brand.
