Introduction
At present, Heineken International, one of the world’s largest brewers, faces a number of difficulties at the US beer market because of the stagnation of the sector and the current financial crisis and has to look for hidden opportunities for improving the situation.
Acknowledging the importance of marketing strategies for influencing the public consciousness and shifting the customers’ preferences, Heineken marketers impose measures for holding the ground of the drink against wine and products of the main competitors.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the elements of the current marketing strategy of Heineken International, to evaluate the ways and channels through which the image and logos of the company are communicated to potential consumers.
Analysis of the market sector, Heineken’s portfolio, and main strengths of Budweiser and Corona as its main competitors help to determine the main strong and weak points of the company and to give recommendations for improving the market performance of the product and identify the ways for reaching the target consumers.
Executive Summary
Heineken International, one of the world’s leading beer-making companies, suffers from stagnation in the US beer market and the financial crisis in the country. However, analysing the existing state of affairs in the sector, marketing department would be able to offer marketing measures for utilizing the hidden opportunities of the current situation and taking advantages of the main company’s strengths.
This paper is aimed at critical evaluation of the present-day Heineken strategies, analysing the policies of the main competitors and offering measures for improvement the current Heineken program.
Despite its excellent financial performance within the latest years, diversified product portfolio and popularity among customers, Heineken International should consider the growing competition in the sector and all the challenges of the US saturated beer market and implement effective marketing strategies for keeping its ground against other types of drinks and other beer-making companies.
Budweiser as the most popular local brand and Corona as the world’s leader in beer import are the main company’s competitors, whose achievements need to be taken into consideration by Heineken marketers.
The internal analysis of Heineken strengths and weaknesses in the US market shows that branding appears to be the main company’s weak point. For this reason, more emphasis should be put on creating the customers’ awareness of the product, utilizing all possible communication channels and taking advantages of the innovative technologies.
Besides influencing the public opinion of beer in general and company’s product in particular, Heineken marketing strategies are aimed at increasing home-drinking and penetrating the health beer market.
Meeting the growing demands of present-day consumers, the company invests into advertising for differentiating the brand from its competitors and sports competitions for creating links between the product and sport as a significant attribute of healthy lifestyle. Another important point is handling the environment problems of recyclable packaging, which could be beneficial for positive branding of the company as well.
Imposing these measures, Heineken International would be able to influence consumers’ preferences, attract new customers and to keep and strengthen its position in the US beer market, increasing the company’s revenues.