Amsterdam, May 2nd 2012 - HEINEKEN announced today that it has selected Starcom MediaVest Group as its global media agency. The appointment, effective from July 1st 2012, follows HEINEKEN's decision last year to review media planning and buying for its brands worldwide and consolidate to one media agency. The company's objective is to improve both the effectiveness and efficiency of its marketing communications across the world.
Starcom MediaVest Group already works with HEINEKEN across a number of important regions and is currently the company's biggest media agency, managing more than half of its total global media spend. In the first phase, the agency will focus on HEINEKEN's top fifteen media spending markets (1), which represent 85% of the company's media investments. This will be followed in a second phase by the remaining markets. The newly appointed agency's role will be to enhance the effectiveness of the company's world-class brand building work, while fully leveraging the company's increased buying power.
Alexis Nasard, Chief Commercial Officer at HEINEKEN said: "This move is in line with our strategy to foster thought-leadership in the increasingly complex media world, leveraging the potential of both new and classical media, while maximising the proportion of our marketing spend which is consumer-facing. We are confident that this partnership will support HEINEKEN's broader strategy to drive top-line growth and market share, by stimulating consumer engagement and igniting the conversation around our brands."
The move to globalise media buying is in line with a number of other initiatives across the company to leverage scale primarily executed under the TCM2 umbrella, and to drive consumer focus.
Note to editors:
(1) HEINEKEN's Top 15 media spending markets: USA, Spain, UK, Russia, Italy, Poland, Mexico, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Brazil, Finland and Nigeria.
About HEINEKEN:
HEINEKEN is a proud, independent global brewer committed to surprise and excite consumers with its brands and products everywhere. The brand that bears the founder's family name - Heineken® - is available in almost every country on the globe and is the world's most valuable international premium beer brand. The Company's aim is to be a leading brewer in each of the markets in which it operates and to have the world's most valuable brand portfolio. HEINEKEN wants to win in all markets with Heineken® and with a full brand portfolio in markets of choice. The Company is present in over 70 countries and operates more than 140 breweries with volume of 214 million hectolitres of group beer sold. HEINEKEN is Europe's largest brewer and the world's third largest by volume. HEINEKEN is committed to the responsible marketing and consumption of its more than 250 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. These include Amstel, Birra Moretti, Cruzcampo, Desperados, Dos Equis, Foster's, Heineken, Newcastle Brown Ale, Ochota, Primus, Sagres, Sol, Star, Strongbow, Tecate, and Zywiec. Our leading joint venture brands include Cristal, Kingfisher, Tiger and Anchor. In 2011, revenue totaled EUR 17.1 billion and EBIT (beia) was EUR 2.7 billion. The number of people employed is around 70,000. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares are listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on the Reuter Equities 2000 Service under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. Most recent information is available on HEINEKEN's website: www.theHEINEKENcompany.com.
Press enquiries:
Marnie Kontovraki
Heineken International
Tel: +31 (0)20 52 39 355
E-mail: Marnie.Kontovraki@heineken.com
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Source: HEINEKEN International via Thomson Reuters ONE
