Exclusive: Heineken rebrands

Less is more: cutting back from 15 to five SKUs

Dutch brewer harmonises, rationalises bottles, cans

One of the world’s best known beer brands for taste consistency has undergone a packaging redesign that offers a similar consistency for its appearance.

Beer drinkers can easily identify Heineken from a handful of style elements – the  distinctive wordmark with the tilted ‘e’s’, the red star, the label’s silver race track, and, of course, the uniquely-coloured green glass.

But it may come as a surprise to learn that there are 15 stock-keeping units for the Heineken bottle in existence, each differing slightly from the other. To the thinking of Heineken’s senior management in Amsterdam, this duplicity takes away from the brand’s stand-out as well as imposing needless operational inefficiencies.

Now rolling out in markets around the world are a redesigned bottle with just five SKUs, cans – and a branded glass designed to make it easier for bar staff to create a perfect presentation of Heineken each and every time.

Mark van Iterson, design director for the Heineken brand, says, “It’s an evolutionary step; there was no need for radical change at all. It increases the iconic-ness.”

Indeed, most of the design changes are subtle, but there are stand-out elements. For bottles there’s the addition of embossing on the neck and sides. The latter is intended as a ‘thumb groove’, encouraging drinkers to hold the bottle lower, allowing the beer to stay colder for longer.

As for the can there’s an industry first – a brand-wide commitment to tactile inks, a device that until now has been used by marketing teams as a short-term brand refresher.

Heineken estimates that over 80% of the bottles will have the embossing; similarly, over 80% of cans will feature tactile ink. The remaining minority of ‘standard’ bottles will be as such because the brewery packaging lines or the supplier are unable to support the new features.

There are other perceptible changes to the Heineken bottle. The star on the neck label has been moved to the top; the front label has been repositioned higher up to give it more prominence; the bottle has been reshaped so that there are broader ‘shoulders’ leading to the neck; and the bottle cap has had some white colouring removed from the edges, so that bare metal silver now mimics the ‘race track’ on the front label.

“From a brand equity consumer point of view we are pretty sure we are doing a good job here,” says van Iterson. “It’s a stronger cut-through and stand-out than we had before. Also with media we need to be more consistent world-wide.”

While the SKUs have simply been tidied up, it is a different story for branded glassware, with hundreds of variations in existence around the globe.

The rationale for a single Heineken glass is straightforward. Van Iterson explains, “We were simply missing an opportunity for making a statement.”

The new glass, which will be rolled out worldwide, features the same elliptical curve as on the bottle neck. The ellipsis also acts as an aid for bar staff as to the angle the glass should be at when beginning their pour, with the red star of the Heineken logo serving as a marker for where beer ends and foam should begin.

While the design elements remain the same, the glass will vary in size according to local market norms. In the Netherlands 25cl glasses are available already; in Ireland there’s been advertising to support the introduction of new pint glasses.
 
Fanfare surrounding the introduction of the new bottles and cans will vary from market to market, depending in part on the size of Heineken’s presence and consumer requirements. In Vietnam, for example, there will be a big supporting campaign with consumers sensitive that they are getting the “real product” rather than a copy. In Chile, where the tactile can launch has already taken place, it has been supported by a ‘touch’ campaign at point of sale, where consumers have been blindfolded and invited to touch various objects.

While already available in disparate markets worldwide, according to chief supply chain officer Marc Gross consumers in Western Europe, Asia and parts of the Americas will have the new look bottles and cans by early 2011. The global roll-out will then extend to central and eastern Europe and Africa and be completed by the end of 2011.

Gross welcomes the new look operationally. A reduction from 15 to five SKUs means longer runs are possible on packaging lines and there’s less downtime required for changeovers. All three bottle labels are pressure sensitive applications, eliminating the need with some SKUs for glue-on paper labels.

Capital expenditure has been limited to new bottle inspection systems, with cameras installed to ensure that now-embossed bottles are correctly positioned prior to the PSL application. Following numerous tests to ensure labelling consistency, Gross says, “Now we are extremely happy with the results.”

The new 33cl bottle will be filled on 67 packaging lines in 55 plants located around the world. It is a couple of millimetres shorter than the best known green long-neck it is replacing, coming in at 225mm with a diameter of 58.9mm.

The new bottle is three per cent lighter at 205g compared to the global equivalents it is replacing. It may not sound like a huge difference, but in the context of 3.5 billion bottles annually it amounts to a saving of 14,000 tonnes of glass. There are also environmental gains logistically with, for example, a lighter lorry load requiring less petrol and resulting in less wear and tear on road surfaces.

This exercise marks the first time that Heineken has undertaken a global branding review for its flagship pilsner. When will this review take place again? Van Iterson estimates that a refreshing of the design is five to seven years hence. The process won’t be arduous as this time around.

“We have, at last, one consistent global starting point,” he notes. “It’s difficult to align the whole organisation. Our starting point will now be easy. As of now we can build on this.”