Heineken USA is elbowing its way into the U.S. light beer market with a $50 million, full-scale marketing campaign for the national launch of its new “luxury” light beer.
Heineken Premium Light launches with the tag line: “succumb to smooth.” Heineken brewed the beer with domestic beer drinkers in mind and the debut marks the first major addition in its 133-year history, Heineken said.
“We’re offering domestic light beer drinkers the option to ‘trade up’ to an easy-to-drink product that carries the image and cache of Heineken’s premium brand status,” said Andy Thomas, CEO of Heineken USA, in a statement. “We want consumers to question their relationship with current domestic light beer. We’re confident they will ‘succumb to smooth’ once they’ve experienced Heineken Premium Light.”
The campaign, which includes targeting Hispanics, will debut on Wednesday, when interactive and viral campaigns break. Print ads break March 3, with a full-page ad in USA Today, supported by national print, including an impact unit in Maxim Magazine. Out-of-home starts April 1 for off-premise supported by TV later in the month.
A series of major events will take place in March. A kick off event took place yesterday in New York City’s Times Square, where illusionist Criss Angel attempted to break out of an old beer crate hoisted 50 feet into the air. When the crated crashed to the ground, he wasn’t there, but appeared standing next door, on top of a Heineken delivery truck holding a bottle of Heineken Premium Light. The event was taped to air on Angel’s show Mindfreak, which airs Wednesday’s on A&E, Heineken Brand Director Andy Glaser said yesterday while attending the event.
Fifteen large-scale events in various markets follow the Times Square extravaganza all building on the concept of smooth air.
Sampling is a major component in the campaign, with events planned during 3,500 nights over a five-month period. The goal? To reach and sample about 450,000 target consumers. During the in-bar events, reps will wear airline pilot and flight attendant-type uniforms (in keeping with personas of fliers just arriving from Holland) and engage and persuade consumers to “upgrade” to the new beer.
“It’s the largest on-premise sampling we’ve ever done,” Glaser said. “We had very high repeat rates after brand trial, so the need to drive trial was absolutely fundamental to the success of the launch.”
A strong P-O-P presence supports both on- and off-premise efforts.
The packaging offers a slimmer, taller, signature-green bottle that differentiates the new beer from Heineken Lager Beer.
The beer will be available beginning March 1 nationwide in 12-ounce bottles on-premise. Beginning April 1, the beer will be available off-premise in six-and 12-pack bottles. The company said it plans to aggressively build market share in this new luxury light category and is also planning a new look for its Amstel Light brand as part of its strategy.
“Heineken USA plans to develop and dominate this emerging territory we have called Luxury Light, with a bookend strategy to introduce Heineken Premium Light and support a re-positioned Amstel Light,” Glaser said.
The company tested the new beverage in Phoenix, AZ, Dallas, Providence, RI, and Tampa, FL, last summer and fall. It said the beer’s performance was “exceptional,” grabbing the No. 2 spot in the imported light beer category across the four markets with continued momentum.
Heineken said it put more than two years of brand development and consumer research into the product.
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