A carefully crafted business slogan speaks volumes of its brand values and promises, successfully.

Especially one that has been in use for 33 years.

When Heineken entered the British market in the late 1960s, the brewing industry was targeting manufacturing workers who preferred weak ale. So the Dutch brewer eschewed its normal 5 per cent ABV premium-strength lager and, under a licensing deal with Whitbread, Heineken introduced the weaker Heineken Cold Filtered with an ABV strength of just 3.4 per cent. It was thirst quenching, light and refreshing which taste remarkably different from the traditional ale. Supported by the “Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach” campaign, it was soon shifting more than 100 million pints a year. By the 1980s, Heineken had become the UK’s best-selling beer, with more than 500 million pints a year being consumed. Well, good things came to an end when the Britons developed a taste for stronger continental lagers. Sales of Heineken Cold Filtered plummeted as the weaker brew was dismissed as cooking lager and, even worse, drinking lager. When Heineken’s contract with Whitbread expired in 2003, it scrapped Cold Filtered and began importing all its beers directly from Amsterdam.

With “Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach”, Heineken’s long-time agency Lowe created a 30-year identity for the brand beginning in 1975 . Considered by many as one of the all-time great slogans in the UK, it spawned an endless stream of classic commercials which suggested the miraculous powers of the lager. This slogan lasted 33 years and was replaced by “How refreshing, how Heineken” written by Clemmow Horby Inge in 1998.

Other slogans by Heineken:

1. A better beer deserves a better can.
2. It’s all about the beer.
3. Lager Beer at its Best.
4. How refreshing! How Heineken! (CHI, 1998)
5. It can only be Heineken

Source: TimesOnline, Boardmag, BrandDelivery, BeerHunter

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