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- ‘Schreeuw oranje naar de cup en jezelf naar

Portugal

’ is a campaign for the EK which started last 12th June.

- ‘Heineken weekend’ gives you the opportunity to choose a city and read all kind of party tips for the weekend.

- The link to feestje.nl gives you all kind of tips for throwing a great party, without forgetting anything to take care of.

- ‘Biertje’ gives you the opportunity to invite friends to come over for a beer in a very original way.

A very important thing to remember as an E-branding company is the age-old exhortation to keep it simple. ‘Increasingly web developers are enamoured of special effects and forgo the kind of simplicity that's key for a good customer experience,’ says Steve Telleen, managing director of Giga Information Group's Website ScoreCard, ‘Consumers come to the web for ease of use. Take that away from them and they're not coming back.’ This ease of use is one of the basics that must be taken into account, when it comes to e-commerce. Experts say companies would do well to remember one of the most basic elements of delivering a good customer experience: making sure that pages load quickly, even when the site is barraged with traffic. Telleen advises companies to avoid using flashy technologies that eat up server space and slow down page loading times. I definitely agree, because it’s incredibly annoying when you’re surfing online and every navigation you make seems to take for hours. Besides that it’s fatal when surfers can’t see the website appropriate because the content is formatted in a way that it can’t be viewed by earlier versions of a web browser. What’s correlated with this are websites who use in-line links (hyperlinks through an image or icon). When there are no plain hyperlinks offered and the images don’t load properly, users don’t know were to navigate anymore. ‘At beer-brewer Heineken's site,’ Telleen says, ‘the lack of text navigation in the slow-to-load company store would make it impossible to buy a product should the images fail to load.[1]’ It’s not clear which website – which country - Teller means here and besides that this quote was in an edition of the CIO magazine in May 2000, so the website back then probably didn’t look the same as it does now. But on the Dutch and for example also in the

USA

site, navigation for the biggest part still goes through in-line links. But there is a difference; the

USA

site has the option to view the website in HTML or in Flash, so when the images don’t load properly, you can still now where to navigate. This in contrast to the Dutch site where this option is lacking and there also aren’t pop-ups or whatsoever when u navigate with your mouse through the images. Losing visitors due to this kind of mistakes can’t possibly be the intention. You would expect that such a successful company like Heineken could afford the best website builders to design a website which is appropriate for successful e-branding. Despite what’s said above, Heineken does have a good e-branding strategy which will become clear while reading the rest of this paper.

A value proposition is the aggregated amount of value that a buyer experiences when buying a product or service. To what extent does Heineken use the Internet nowadays to enhance their value propositions? One of the main differences of making a value proposition online is that it is possible to fulfil the consumers’ need more effectively than traditionally.[2] The constraints in the physical world are most of the time defined in terms of functional benefits, like the assortment in a bookstore, and/or economical constraints. According to Max du Bois (2000) the benefits that companies receive when going online are the (generic) benefits of: convenience, choice and speed.

On Heineken.nl convenience also is a used benefit. Via ‘info’, which is the last option in the menu, you can send an e-mail to Heineken. You can place a message or ask a question about different subject, like beer or annual reports and you can order an information package, which will be on you doormat only a few days later. By doing this, Heineken enhances its value proposition by removing the constraints of time and place. In comparison to other brands, Heineken doesn’t offer their main product online, you obviously can’t buy a beer online (except for the ‘beertender’ a tap for at home). So in buying convenience this differs from other brands, but Heineken offers many other products in their online shop, where just as good the constraint of time and place are removed. The benefit of choice originates from the fact that the web is information rich, so it’s easier to present all products and services a consumer may buy. As I mentioned before Heineken doesn’t sell their main product, the beer, but there definitely is lots of information given about their product. You can for example read about every kind of Heineken beer (cans, bottles, special beers). Speed in applying information and in responding to customers is also applied on the website. Especially because of all the click through-options you have faster access to an uncountable amount of information then through any other medium.

Personalization, as I mentioned before as a characteristic of Internet, is a key word when it comes to creating emotional benefits online.[3] One argument for building brands online is that it is easier to personalize information and processes, thereby making customers feel special and selected. On Heineken.nl are several options where you need to fill out a form, when you want to subscribe to the newsletter ‘Heineken highlights’, when you want to tell a friend about the site, when you want to participate in diverse actions or in the options ‘biertje?’ and ‘feestje’. In every case they ask you to fill in your first and second name, your zip code, your date of birth and e-mailadress. With the information Heineken gathers with these forms, they can personalize future messages to their customers. On Heineken.nl the personalization is not very impressive, but there are Heineken websites, who have more personalization through a log in possibility. The Dutch site is probably limited in personalization, because there are some risks restricted to trying to personalize information and processes online. I believe most important is that when you are dealing with people’s data you need to manage privacy. The privacy policy on the website, therefore says that the data Heineken receives won’t be used for anything else then the reason of the consumer to fill out the form. The privacy policy on the Dutch site is meagre compared to for example the privacy policy on the international site. Part of that privacy policy is about ‘cookies’. They admit to use Cookies to collect other information during a visit, like the particular site areas you visit.

Cookies allow us to tailor a web site to better match your interests and preferences, and to speed up your future activities at our web site. With most Internet Browsers, you can erase Cookies from your computer hard drive, block all Cookies or receive a warning before a Cookie is stored. Please be aware that refusal of Cookies at the web site you entered may result in an inability to visit certain areas of the site or to receive personalized information when you visit the site.

Besides this they also mention that you agree with the terms of the privacy policy when you use the website, and if not they request you not to provide personal information on the website. I believe this is a smart way to avoid the problems that can be caused by creating emotional benefits. The privacy policy on the Dutch Heineken site is very incomplete and should be made comparable with the international policy, to avoid unnecessary problems.

To give the stakeholders the best user experience possible, means the company must present the value propositions, I described above, in as appealing a way as possible. Presenting the value proposition efficiently means that it has to be simple and straightforward to navigate the page (see basics – provide ease of use) and the look and feel of the website has to be right for the brand stakeholders. A difficulty when making the architecture of the site is to take all brand stakeholders into consideration (Brattö and Gustavsson, 2001). Heineken really succeeded on supplying all different stakeholders the best user experience as possible. Costumers are often the most important stakeholders en thus often causes over focusing on their needs. On Heineken.nl there is no matter of over focusing, which I believe is again because the website doesn’t sell their main product. When this would be the case, things would be different, then much more attention would go to attracting consumers and converting them to buyers. The website as it is today pays attention to all kind of stakeholders at once. The features for the consumers are present for creating and conserving their image, like contests to win tickets for Heineken music- and sport events and options to invite friends to drink a beer or to plan a party. For potential employees is a various amount of information available divided in information for students and professionals who are interested in working for Heineken. The information is really specified with information about the main departments in the company and available vacancies for professionals and information about (international) traineeships, the Heineken Business course and functions to first start working, for students. Besides the current vacancies there is the opportunity to send in an open application letter. All the information is accompanied with interview of current employees. For journalists (and other people looking for information on Heineken) is a great amount of information available about the history of the brand and the latest annual reports and press releases. Above shows how Heineken takes al her stakeholders into account when it comes to satisfying their user experience, but how is Heinekens E-branding involved in their consumers behavior?

The traditional brand model is based on the belief that a brand message should be communicated foremost by promotion to the stakeholders with the purpose of influencing their perceptions. Since the digital technologies are interactive, the user or customer is in charge of what messages he receives, thus he can choose which messages he wants to be subjected to and therefore is this traditional view not very advantageous when it comes to using digital technologies as a brand-building tool. (Brattö and Gustavsson, 2001)

With the Internet the so-called ‘Participatory culture’ evolved, which among other things signals the blurring of the boundaries between the categories of production and consumption. I believe this also is what Brattö and Gustavsson indicates as the reason why the branding model is changed. Is this also the case with Heineken? What opportunities consumers gained now they can participate online?

It’s for example really easy online to ‘link’. Companies can use this by inserting links like ‘tell your friends about this site’ and all kind of options which involve potential new users. On Heineken.nl you can see this several times. For example the option ‘Biertje?’. Through this link you can invite your friends to drink a beer together, important here is that you need to fill in all the e-mail addresses of your friends. First of all when your friends receive this information they will be linked to the website and second, now Heineken.nl owns those addresses for further advertising. This ‘viral marketing’ is something many

websites try to profit from; they ‘use’ their visitors to get new visitors this also is what’s mend by the blurring between consumer and producer. This example shows how the consumers take care of promoting the website in stead of the producers of the site. This again points to what I said before about how easy it is online to reach many people at once and this example shows how the consumer behavior has changed: the power (partly) shifted from firms to internet users. The way consumers will behave online, depends on many different aspects I already mentioned above, like brand value and user experience, but credibility also is a very important aspect, which has great consequences on how the consumers will be influenced by the E-branding. Creating credibility has traditionally been vital for a company’s success and it is getting even more important when companies conduct E-commerce.[4] Without the characteristics of the traditional business environment, like face-to-face contact between people and physical locations, it is harder to trust a brand. In comparison to many dotcom-firms, Heineken succeeded in creating a brand, in stead of a trademark. So Heineken can easily sell their product online, without dealing with the problem that customers do not trust the offers made online and hence prefer to buy in the traditional, ‘safe’ way. Very important thus is the fact that the E-branding of Heineken is ‘just’ an addition to the offline marketing. Therefore the contact area, for example, isn’t reduced to a sterile, anonymous environment, where it is difficult for customers to form impressions of the company. The contact area of Heineken exists, besides the website also out of the ‘Heineken Experience’ for example, where an old factory is transformed into a place where consumers can take a look ‘behind the scenes’. Beside this Heineken also creates credibility online, by making the online experience as real as possible, for instance through the pictures and interviews with current employees at the company, which helps the users realize there are real people behind the cold Internet face.

Though not everybody is happy with this development. It seems like you can’t surf online without consequences anymore. If you need to fill in your e-mail, they will keep bothering you and if you don’t fill in anything they seem to find you anyway! But it can’t be ignored that young adults are spending a decreasing amount of time watching television and an increasing amount on the Internet. Primetime television viewing by men ages 18 to 34 declined 7.7 percent last year, according to a Nielsen Media Research report. Studies also show Internet use is increasing among this group. The Internet is becoming so pervasive, that 14 percent of ads on television now display a website address so prospects can find more information online. As time goes on, this number will only grow (Danal, 2000).

What must companies take into account when it comes to segmenting and targeting their online consumers? One first important concept when discussing brands is brand stakeholders. The brand stakeholders are the players which the brand is targeted to manipulate, also indicated as the target group. The most important of these are for most companies its customers. The other important players that the brand should address are employees, investors, the community, vendors, and partners.[5] Many observers feel that the cost and complexity of the PC, which is currently the primary access device, is a key factor shaping the demographics of the e-commerce consumer (IDC, 1997b). But acceptance of technology has advanced to the point that online campaigns are accessible to a sufficient large part of the population. In 2003, 24.8 million households had broadband Internet access, which is projected to grow to 39.9 million by the end of 2005, according to New York-based research company eMarketer.[6] As I said before, it is not enough to just get as many hits as possible, but for being able to convert your target group into buyers, it is important that your campaign and/or advertising is appealing to the segments you selected. For suppliers, web advertising offers the ability to target directed messages to an audience with specific demographics and interests. These specific targeted messages are something what before, with the media used for regular branding, used to be impossible and thus can be seen as another advantage of e-branding. Second, there is the ability to collect, track, analyze and leverage consumer behavior/ buying patterns[7] better then ever before. Studying this information gives the e-branding company another head start, compared to regular branding.

Heineken uses multisegment marketing, because it’s a multinational brand, and thus needs to select many different segments for each country and needs to design marketing mix strategies specifically for each. In the

and the

Netherlands

for example, the legal age to drink alcohol is a (geodemographic) difference in the two segments, which both need their own different strategy. Besides that there are also many psychographic and behavior differences between Dutch and American people, that needs to be taken into account in their segmenting and targeting strategies. The free downloadable music campaign of Heineken USA Inc. is an excellent example. Heineken USA INC is the nation's largest beer importer and a subsidiary of Heineken N.V. (

Netherlands

). The core demographic of Heineken USA Inc., are men from 21 to 34 years old, according to Mike McCann, brand manager of Heineken. According to David Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer, in the first half of 2003, 34 percent of all Internet users from 18 to 34 years old downloaded music. Knowing this made a cooperation with an online music company very obvious. Besides this, over 85% of RealPlayer Music Store consumers were aged 21 or older, what made this partnership, as chief strategy officer of RealNetworks Richard Wolpert described ‘a tremendous way to reach a very large, massive audience.’ This year on the first of May, Heineken USA Inc. began selling specially marked 12-packs of Heineken with codes for consumers to access two free downloads from RealPlayer Music Store. The television commercial which comes with this campaign, launched one week later, shows a young man in his bedroom downloading music while his roommate tries to find salsa in a refrigerator crowded with Heineken boxes.[8] For the Dutch beer drinkers another strategy is necessary since the legal age to drink beer is 16 years old (though on the Dutch website is an age check for 18 years and older). This example shows how the Internet is very suitable for selecting an appropriate segment coverage strategy and how e-marketing can result in new business models, what among other things increased the profitability of not one, but twó companies in this case.

With all the new opportunities involved with the Internet, the marketing strategies of companies have gone through enormous changes. Internet definitely did change the branding process to a high level, but it didn’t per definition make it easier. Every technological development simultaneously causes improvements and a lot of new problems and challenges. With the introduction of the new technologies the business environment that companies act in has changed. This new environment has placed new demands on brand positioning. My goal was to show you how Heineken stresses its distinctive features online in order to maintain an international leading brand. I showed how brand value and user experience are important aspects to give special attention to, when building or maintaining a brand. Heineken certainly took care of the risks Internet brings along. Heineken dealt with the sterile and anonymous environment and profits from the opportunities Internet offers, like the information richness, the transparency, personalization and interaction between the users. Very important is the fact that Heineken didn’t start as an online brand, but originated in an offline business environment. Because Heineken already was a leading international brand, before launching the websites, many problems are eliminated like creating credibility online.

Another great benefit company’s get from E-branding is the globalization which is possible because Internet is foremost accessible at all of the world’s strongest markets, like the Japanese, European and North American.[9] The connectivity, which is combined with this accessibility, meaning that companies can interact with each other globally through the Internet medium, is something Heineken really benefits from. Because Heineken in active in more then 170 countries, spread over every continent, it’s important that the ± 110 breweries in more then 60 countries, can easily communicate which each other. Also in E-branding Heineken benefits from this access all over the world, through all their websites, adjusted to all the concerning countries.

According to Al and Laura Ries (2000) will the long-term winners of the Internet be those brands that can transcend borders and still express their uniqueness. What they exactly mean by ‘long-term’ is not sure, but to my opinion it’s to early yet to say anything about it. As I already mentioned in the beginning, I would like to know how the Internet influenced the branding process. With this paper I might have given an idea about the characteristics of the Internet and the digital environment, which are important for E-branding, but that doesn’t say anything about if E-branding is more successful then offline branding. Therefore a much broader research should be done and besides that, when I’d like to know how successful the Heineken E-branding strategy is, I would want to wait the same amount of time Heineken only used offline branding…and that is yet a long time to wait!

Du Bois, M., Why brands won’t be bland in the E-world, London: Marketing, 31-08-2000, pp. 25.

Braunstein, M. and Levine E.H., Deep branding on the Internet, Roseville California: Prima Venture, 2000.

Dayal, S., Landsberg, H. and Zeisser, M., Building Digital Brands, McKinsey Quarterly, Vol. 2, 2000.

Neal, W.D., ‘Branding in the third millennium’, in: Marketing Management, Chicago, Summer, Vol. 9. Iss. 2. p. 64.

Ries, A. and Ries, L., 11 Immutable laws of Internet branding, London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.

Slater, Don. 'Capturing Markets from the Economists.' In: Du Gay, P. Pryke, M, (ed.) Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2002, pp. 59-77.

Tybout, A. & Carpenter, G., ‘Creating and Managing Brands’ In: Iacobucci, D. (ed.) Kellogg on marketing, New York: John Wiley and Sons, inc., 2001.

Author unknown, ‘Freddy Heineken dies’, in: Protz on Beer, 05-01-2002. <http://www.protzonbeer.com/documents/27660-001647.html>

Author unknown, Press Release: Heineken

USA

Begins 'Downloads' Promotion, 28-05-2004.

Brattö, O. and Gustavsson, K., Branding Online. Leveraging industrial brands in the digital business environment,

Sweden

, 15-02-2001.

<http://www.mot.chalmers.se/dept/ima/examensarbeten/PDF/bratt%C3%B6-gustavsson.pdf>

Heineken corporate fact sheet, 17-06-2004. <http://www.heinekeninternational.com/press/press_kits/corporate_press_kit.jsp>

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