What we did and what we delivered

General

In March 2008, we published a new edition of our Rules on Responsible Commercial Communication and distributed it to all our operating companies and export markets. The new rules can be found on our corporate website www.heinekeninternational.com in the Corporate responsibility section under Policies (Alcohol).

We revised our online training tool for marketing and sales personnel as well as those new to the business. The tool is available online throughout the year for training new employees.

The responsible consumption programme was the focus of both a presentation and a working session during our leadership forum for the top 130 managers in Bucharest in March 2008.

Extend the Enjoy Heineken Responsibly campaign

We embedded the concept of responsibility in the Heineken brand architecture. This means that in our briefing for agencies, to create any new Heineken commercial communication anywhere in the world, responsibility has become an integral part of the brand’s identity.

In May 2008, we redesigned our ‘Enjoy Heineken Responsibly’ logo. We pro-actively display this logo on both our packaging and other means of communication wherever the brand is sold.

We created the world’s first international, digital, interactive responsibility campaign ‘Know the signs’. This has been designed to raise consumers’ awareness of unwanted behaviour with regard to alcohol consumption. During the launch, consumers’ exposure to and interaction with the campaign was higher than targeted. Initial results show that the campaign has a positive effect on consumers’ attitudes. Visit the site at www.knowthesigns.com.

We expanded the reach and content of our Enjoy Heineken Responsibly website. It is now available in 40 markets and 26 languages. We promote the website through our packaging, through commercial communication and as part of other commercial messages.

The ‘Enjoy Heineken Responsibly’ message is now integrated in the UEFA Champions League sponsorship. We have converted the most viewed 33 per cent of our total stadium advertising to carry the ‘Enjoy Responsibly’ message. During the matches, we use part of our broadcast rights to promote our ‘Enjoy Responsibly’ message and have a range of merchandise that carries the message.

Upweight actions on our key portfolio brands

We introduced responsible consumption messages on primary packaging for most of our key brands covering around 50 per cent of our global volume. We also support the labelling with dedicated local responsibility websites in markets where internet penetration makes this a relevant channel.

Increase partnerships at a local level

In line with our vision to play our part in reducing alcohol-related harm, we increased the number of market-based partnerships that address alcohol-related issues from 7 to 30. These partnerships address one of three issues: drinking and driving, underage purchase and consumption and alcohol education.

Continued investment in coordinated industry action

We are members of trade organisations in markets across the world. In many of these, we have instigated or participated in campaigns, programmes and projects that address relevant beer issues. In addition, we participate in international groups active on the issue such as Brewers of Europe, Global Alcohol Producers Group and the International Centre for Alcohol Policies (ICAP).

Continually educate our own employees

Working in the beer business requires us to be ambassadors for our industry. With the exception of Martinique, all operating companies that were acquired prior to 1 January 2008 have implemented our internal ‘Cool@Work’ programme. We will modify our Cool@Work manual to make it clearer to operating companies what is required from them on a continuous basis in order to remain compliant with our policy. Our internal ‘Alcohol, Company and Society’ database continued to play an important role in the design of local implementation and maintenance activities by disclosing best practices from around all our markets.

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