A multinational company's clear view on communication in its own backyard

Heineken is a role model for others in many areas of communication. The company adopted a global marketing strategy earlier than many other multinationals. Since the 1990s, the brand has been working hard to have the same face in all countries.

Heineken is also well aware that the modern beer drinker does not just watch television, but meanwhile tweets on his smartphone and plays a game online on his iPad. Therefore, Spectre's James Bond campaign is multimedia. Through a TV commercial, viewers are enticed to immediately download an app and solve an exciting mystery by cracking a code. Heineken understands where marketing is going and realises that the push strategy of campaigns is finite. That is why it seeks to connect with its consumers. They can save on the revamped site for free gadgets and privileges, such as backstage passes and meet-and-greets with artists.

The importance of the local stakeholder
The company is also far ahead in recognising the importance of the local stakeholder within its communication strategy. Heineken is active in 178 countries and it now realises that in all those countries and all its locations, it must also seek contact with local governments, social organisations, independent professionals, local residents and the local labour market. Such initiatives, in which the bond between company and surroundings is strongly accentuated, also fit within Corporate Social Responsibility. As an example: one should not see the brewery in 's-Hertogenbosch, where beer is brewed for 150 countries, as a local branch of a multinational but as a real Bosch company. Because it is. So, for example, Heineken presents itself on the eleventh of the eleventh as the Oeteldonkse Hofbrouwerij and has its beer tested that day by the Council of Eleven. In addition, Heineken has engaged a local advertising agency in 's-Hertogenbosch to portray the relationship between brewer and city.

Social anchoring
Capital Advertising, as a local partner, shaped the social anchoring with the city. Among other things, it provided the spectacular decoration of containers in the form of a triptych along Rietveldenweg. There, we see the famous Bossche dragon snaking around a beer bottle neck, and the agency also shows that the typography of the brand is so strong that wherever we write ''s-Her'', we soon read Heineken anyway. The campaign made the front pages of local newspapers and that, of course, is precisely what the big brewer aims for. Heineken always shows to be at the forefront of its marketing strategy. So consider this article mainly as a wake-up call: how have you organised your local anchoring? Later, with a tighter labour market, expansion plans or stricter licensing requirements, for example, your social anchoring may well prove to be the tool with which you can steer the ship through the storm. Take stock of this for yourself. Beer in hand.

In recognising the importance of the local stakeholder, Heineken is way ahead.

Beer giant Heineken operates in 178 countries, has more than 19,000 employees and produces 22 billion litres of beer annually (by comparison, annual milk production in the Netherlands is 11 billion litres).