Heineken to put cash from TV ads in favor of sports sponsorships

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The Dutch brewery is to axe its UK TV spend of GBP 6.5m for 2006. The move has been attributed to the current clutter in the TV advertising market. The international brewer has cited difficulties in using television as a marketing tool to reach the core 18-25 year old market as the reason for its change of tack. The company, which holds EU 100m global advertising account, has revealed that instead it will focus its attentions on point-of-sale advertising and sports sponsorship.

“It is increasingly difficult to target the 18-26 year old sector as they are watching far less television than they used to, instead they are watching football and DVDs,” John Brand, food-and-drinks industry analyst at Datamonitor, commented to media.

Heineken which has been advertising on British television for more than 30 years will not completely vanish from UK TV screens - it will continue to get high profile exposure through its sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League and rugby union's Heineken cup.