Heineken launches pub marketing initiative

‘Our Shout’ will give licensees that stock Heineken brands a personalised advertising and marketing service to help boost publicity, consumer experience and profit potential.

It is available from the brewer’s ‘free to choose market’, which encompasses freetrade and leased and tenanted pubs, where an agreement has been made with individual pub companies.

Heineken said it has secured support from a number of operators, but was unable to disclose the details at this stage.

Trial​

The initiative was trialled last year in the independent market in Yorkshire, Kent and Sussex. There are now 49 registered venues.

During the trial Heineken built 37 websites, created and managed 29 social media accounts, installed wi-fi at 19 outlets, designed 22 print campaigns and created seven local radio advertisements.

Since taking over one pub’s Facebook page, the brewer helped increase its social community by 40% in one month and improve engagement by 200%.

Another Medway pub said its new website now gets 900 page visits, which is seeing a 10% month-on-month increase in 2014, with over 30% of visitors viewing the site on mobile.

'Massive opportunity'​

Heineken’s managing director on-trade Lawson Mountstevens said: “We recognise that the best way to engage with our customers is to help them engage with their own. ‘Our Shout’ is more than just an initiative for outlets to stock our portfolio of brands, it’s a massive opportunity for publicans to use our expertise to help drive sales and footfall in a highly competitive market and make a real impact as a business.”

Licensees can sign up by stocking one or more brand from a range that includes Heineken, Foster’s, Strongbow, Amstel, Kronenbourg 1664, Symonds Reserve and John Smith’s Extra Smooth.