Heineken Drops TV Ads From Marketing Mix

Dutch brewer Heineken is to withdraw from television advertising, redirecting its £6.5 million advertising budget and calling time on small screen commercials.

The move is being made due to increasing questions over the effectiveness of television advertising, newspaper reports today claim, with Heineken now ploughing its budget into more sponsorship and point of sale promotions.

The company’s withdrawal from the TV advertising market will be a blow, although Heineken managing director Rob Marijnen believes it is the right course of action for his brand. “The enormously cluttered environment in TV makes it difficult to make standout ads,” he told today’s Times. “It’s also very expensive and it’s questionable as to its effectiveness.”

The brewery has not ruled out a return to TV in the future, and Marijnen explained that, due to Heineken’s sponsorship of the European Champions League, sponsorship break bumpers would continue to run in television coverage of matches.

However, for the time being at least, the bulk of Heineken’s TV budget will be spent elsewhere, dealing a severe blow to the reputation of TV to deliver return on investment.

The TV industry recently launched a dedicated marketing body, Think box, in order to promote small screen advertising (see Thinkbox Unveiled As New TV Marketing Body).

Think box chairman and ITV director of customer relationship marketing, Justin Sampson, has made it his mission to help advertisers get more out of TV, although Heineken’s move may cause ripples of doubt amongst other advertisers (see Thinkbox Appoints Justin Sampson Chairman).

Elsewhere, other broadcasters have launched new initiatives to build interest in traditional spot advertising. Earlier this week Sky announced reduced rates for interactive advertisers, a move clearly designed to encourage growth in the medium and tempt new users of the technology (see Sky Slashes Interactive Response Rates).

Heineken: www.heineken.com