Jonnie Cahill, Chief Marketing Officer of Heineken, talks the brand's 30-year US Open partnership and serving a new generation of fans
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00:00Very few marriages last 10 years.
00:04The one between Heineken and the U.S. Open has gone on for 30 years.
00:09I'm here with Johnny Cahill, Chief Marketing Officer of Heineken.
00:12How has this relationship worked for that long?
00:15Well, firstly, welcome to the U.S. Open.
00:17It's a 30-year marriage and I guess like everything, it's about teamwork, you know, keeping perspective
00:22and remembering that we like doing this together.
00:25I mean, we've been here for so many years.
00:28We evolved the partnership.
00:30And I think when we talk to the USTA, our star point is how do we make it better together?
00:34We put a lot of time and energy into the environment.
00:37I think you've been downstairs at the patio.
00:40What we love about this tournament is there's a tennis tournament going on, probably the
00:44most elite tournament in the world, but you know, there's also a party going on.
00:48Johnny, I'd wager that you could walk out there and 50% of the people couldn't tell
00:52you who they came to see on the court, but they could tell you what they drank.
00:56Yeah.
00:58Unusual, if not unheard of in sports.
01:00There's no doubt that in many environments, you know, people are making that decision
01:04to come and see someone very specifically on the field.
01:07People are coming to the U.S. Open and whoever's on tonight, it's good enough.
01:12And they know it's elite, high level, like global level performance, but they're also
01:16coming for all the things you see around the place, the cafes, the experiences, the food
01:21is really good.
01:22The beverage services are really good.
01:25And the brands that show up here, for us, it makes a lot of sense.
01:28This is a very premium environment, and that means we all have a duty of care to make sure
01:33it gets delivered at the right level.
01:35What's going on in the world of beer?
01:37We've been told for recent years, there's been some pullback, a little bit of shrinkage
01:41as far as beer conceptually goes.
01:42Is that what you're seeing?
01:43Yeah, we're seeing the market is definitely shrinking a little bit.
01:46It's nothing serious as such, but there is a little bit of pressure in total market performance.
01:52But there are also some very positive trends, imports doing really well, which is good.
01:58Non-alcoholic, Heineken Zero being a leader in there.
02:01Really seeing substantial sustained growth as that moderation trend really translates
02:07into volume and revenue, not only for us, but for all the players in the category.
02:11So while total beer has some challenges, and we've seen that in certain segments, there
02:15are also pockets of success, and we're happy to be participating in those.
02:19How do you reach the Gen Z drinkers who are not drinking alcohol?
02:23This may be the answer.
02:24Yeah, I mean, for us, this is a super important play, Heineken Zero.
02:27It's an amazing thing because what we're doing here is opening the franchise out to people
02:33and moments when they would love a beer, but they don't necessarily want the alcohol.
02:38And if you think about it, whether it's Heineken drinkers in different occasions, or in those
02:44moments where you say, you know, I just don't want to go there.
02:47We're inviting people into the franchise with a really premium proposition.
02:51And this has been the driver of the non-alc category for the last number of years, since
02:55we launched it in 2018.
02:56And as part of the idea that you can hold this down at your patio, and it looks like
03:02you're drinking whatever everyone else is.
03:05Yeah, I think there's no doubt that one of the unlockers in non-alcoholic beer was led
03:11by Heineken Zero, bringing a positive choice to the table.
03:16You probably remember the old days of non-alc when the minute you ordered one, the next
03:20question was, what's wrong?
03:21And people say, well, why was the US non-alc market so underdeveloped?
03:25Because the propositions weren't good enough.
03:27What we've seen with Heineken Zero is it's a positive choice.
03:30It's not instead of something, I'm choosing this.
03:33The very early launch campaign, Now You Can, allowed us to take a proposition and really
03:39flip it to a choice.
03:40And that's particularly resonating with a young audience where moderation is an everyday
03:46fact of life.
03:47They are drinking less alcohol, but that does not mean that they don't want to participate
03:51socially or engage with world-class brands.
03:54And those moments when you allow people to do something differently, but stay within
03:59your category are very accretive because we would lose them to soda.
04:03We would lose them to sparkling water.
04:05We would lose them from a franchise perspective out to other areas.
04:09What we want as a brand owner, I want you to drink Heineken as and when you want in
04:14a way that suits your lifestyle.
04:16And if that means on a Monday night, it's a Heineken Zero and on a Saturday night, it's
04:20a Heineken, that's perfectly good for us.
04:23And for those that aren't tennis fans, explain the clever can.
04:26Yeah.
04:27So what does they say?
04:29We see what you did there.
04:30So love, love, zero, zero, Heineken, zero, zero.
04:33And of course, zero in tennis is love in the scoring system.
04:38So our view is we created over 20,000 bespoke cans just for this event.
04:43Again, elevating the experience for people to celebrate zero, zero in tennis parlance
04:48with love, love.
04:49Here, you're excited to see Taylor Fritz, who is a top ranked American tennis player
04:54and working with you guys on this beer.
04:56Why is he the right fit?
04:57Well, I think he represents a lot of what we see in this category, young people who
05:02are living a balanced lifestyle, but still able to have fun, very social.
05:08So there's a lot of similarities there.
05:10And we look for partners who are authentic representations of the brand.
05:14As you know, the temptation often with big brands is to get someone who will capture
05:19millions of eyeballs just because of their fame.
05:22But really in this kind of category, you look for fit and he represents a lot of what's
05:26good about this.
05:27It's the right kind of life.
05:28He's fun.
05:29He's energetic.
05:30He's young.
05:31He's American where this brand is on fire.
05:32We were pleased to bring him on board.
05:34He happens to have a pretty gorgeous social media star girlfriend as well that has been
05:41pretty good fit for the brand.
05:42What we loved is there's a lot of authenticity despite it being, if you will, a social media
05:47team, but there's also a lot of joy.
05:50Like they look like they're having fun.
05:52Between these two beers in between us is also silver.
05:54Yeah.
05:55And where does that sit in the brand and who's the consumer?
05:58Yeah.
05:59Amazing.
06:00You see a 150 year old brand here with three line extensions, two of which are, you know,
06:04less than 10 years old.
06:06So Heineken original 155 year, 150 years old.
06:10This since 2018 here in the US and Heineken silver is a year old.
06:15It's our play really to allow consumers who want a lighter taste, lower calories, lower
06:20carbs to come into the brand.
06:23Because what we've seen is the Heineken brand is extremely iconic, but you've a huge segment
06:28of the market.
06:29And you know this as well as I do, where brands like Michelob Ultra or Miller Lite or Coors
06:33Lite are serving a need for a lower carb, lower cal, and frankly, a lighter taste profile.
06:41And so Heineken silver allows us to offer all the premiumness of our brand, which is
06:44very iconic for the consumer with the lightness that's very prevalent in the US market.
06:51What we saw when we did the research is that 60% of that light, low carb segment is domestic
06:59premium or below.
07:01So there's a huge strategic opportunity to premiumize that segment to say, yeah, you
07:05want this product delivery, but you want it with a very iconic brand.
07:09Cheers to that and 30 years together.
07:12Another 30 we hope.