Historically, this brand of beer holds 49% (Nielsen Jan 2007) of the total South African premium market, making it the premium brand of choice. brandhouse, the local joint venture company owned by Heineken, Diageo and Namibia Breweries, is South Africa's largest importer and distributor of premium spirits and beers and is a member of the Association for Responsible Alcohol Use, the International Centre for Alcohol Policies and South African Liquor Brandowners Association. The company now markets and distributes Amstel in the southern Africa region, adding it to its premium beer portfolio that includes Heineken, Guinness and Windhoek.
The beer is now being produced at Amstel Breweries in Europe, to the exact same time-honoured recipe and specifications as before, ensuring that the South African consumer will enjoy the same premium beer as before.
Before embarking on a new campaign, brandhouse conducted extensive consumer surveys. These confirmed that the brand enjoyed huge local support.
“Amstel has an incredibly high loyal consumer base,” explains Amstel Marketing Manager at brandhouse, Willem Jan van der Hoeven. “These people have really missed the beer during the months it has been unavailable.” And it was from this simple truth that the foundations of the campaign were laid.
“Working with advertising agency Grey South Africa, we agreed that the focus of the relaunch must be reuniting South Africans with Amstel,” continues Willem.
The campaign kicked off via outdoor media in August, and climaxed on October 19 when over 500 local celebrities and media guests gathered at the urban-trendy Newtown Park, Mary Fitzgerald Square in Johannesburg to enjoy the talents of South Africa's entertainment elite. This was followed by the ‘official' launch in the media of the Reunion campaign on 21 October.
To ensure that the campaign has legs, media agency Notabene has been tasked with ensuring that the campaign continues to interact with the consumer over a longer timeframe. To achieve this outdoor, TV, radio (community, regional and national) and full page press advertising will run until the end of the year.
