Heineken USA (HUSA) CEO Maggie Timoney offered a spoiler at the start of the company’s national sales meeting: Don’t expect new products for 2025.
In fact, distributors should expect “more of the same,” she said, as the company is focused on its core portfolio of Heineken and Dos Equis.
Timoney acknowledged that distributors are being inundated with a lot of new stuff and HUSA won’t be piling on. Instead, HUSA is seeking more mindshare for its core.
A couple of weeks removed from speaking at the National Beer Wholesaler Association’s Annual Convention, Timoney again touched on several of the pressures on the beer category, pointing to health and wellness apps, online gambling, ready-to-drink canned cocktails and cannabis among the confluence of factors chipping away at traditional beer occasions. She added that the “negative narrative around alcohol” is also a threat as the federal government prepares to issue new dietary guidelines. She encouraged the industry to band together and “fight for the category.”
Even as headwinds mount, Timoney believes the beer category is poised for a bounce back, the question is to what level, she said. She believes that 2025 will bring improved trends and she pointed to HUSA already growing share in 15 of the last 16 months through June (more recent months were excluded due to their silent period).
Year-to-date (YTD) through September 8, Heineken is the sixth largest beer category vendor, with off-premise dollar sales topping $1 billion (-3.4%), and volume, measured in case sales, down -4.7% compared to last year, according to market research firm Circana.
Nevertheless, Timoney said HUSA’s portfolio over-indexes with multicultural consumers, including Hispanic and Black drinkers, setting the company up for the future. As younger generations are increasingly more multicultural, HUSA will be “well-positioned to claim share” with those consumers as the import segment grows.
“Our brands are so well-positioned that I think sometimes we forget it,” Timoney said.
Heineken: Rebalanced Marketing Plan for 2025
HUSA CMO Jonnie Cahill laid out a rebalanced marketing plan for Heineken in 2025, with Original getting the bulk of the investment, complemented by non-alcoholic Heineken 0.0 and Silver, the company’s super premium Michelob Ultra challenger play.
Cahill noted 2025 will “reorient back to Heineken Original,” including the Formula 1 (F1) Las Vegas Grand Prix sponsorship switching from Heineken Silver to a portfolio play.
For Heineken 0.0, Cahill described the plan as a continuation of what the brand is already doing due to the existing formula of advertising and sampling working well.
The company will continue to support Heineken Silver, with new packaging, a clarified brand proposition focused on lower carbs and calories and a pop culture push. Cahill reminded distributors in the room that it takes years to build a brand and growing Silver is a “marathon, not a sprint.”
HUSA is already seeing progress behind Silver, with growing awareness, a 43.1% retrial rate and data showing the brand is bringing new people into the beer category, including multicultural and urban consumers.
The investment for 2025 includes digital advertising during the NBA Playoffs and NFL season, as well as on streaming platforms Netflix, Hulu, Peacock and Paramount+, and in-person events such as the U.S. Open, Coachella and F1.
Borja Manso, VP of marketing for the Heineken brand, expanded on the 2025 playbook for Heineken, including growing Original, investing behind Heineken 0.0 and nurturing Heineken Silver.
Heineken’s positioning will be refined to be “single minded” and relevant to younger LDA consumers. The idea behind 2025’s creative is championing real-life socialization, showing drinkers in social settings eschewing smart phones and digital connectedness. Those ads will meet younger LDA consumers in the digital realm, not traditional TV, to appeal to them, Manso said.
The company will also try to break through with “Heineken Culture Pulse,” the next iteration of its campaign aimed at creating viral moments, such as it did with the “boring phone,” the Heineken B.O.T., “The Closer” bottle opener that puts laptops into sleep mode.
Manso said the blueprint for Heineken 0.0 will be aimed at engaging consumers through new “Now You Can” campaign assets, mass trial and activations, such as the U.S. Open and F1. Heineken 0.0 will once again deliver a major sampling opportunity, with millions of samples earmarked for 2025, he added.
After testing Heineken 0.0 12-pack bottles in a handful of markets and expanding that trial in September, the company is taking the package national in 2025.
New Dos Equis Marketing Campaign Teased
A new marketing campaign for Dos Equis will be coming in early 2025. Although clips from the Most Interesting Man campaign and “stay thirsty” tagline played during a video preview, HUSA VP for Mexican brands Matt Saltzstein said the company isn’t bringing the campaign back. However, elements of the campaign would be part of Dos Equis’ marketing in the future with messaging crafted around sophistication and success. The theme of the creative will center around living an interesting and “story-rich life.”
For 2025, Dos Equis will continue to lean into college football with its “Go for Dos” campaign built around “owning” the 2-point conversion, with ESPN announcer Chris Fowler voicing the ads, including in-game integrations.
The company is also pushing its “naked or dressed” lime-and-salt ritual for on-premise retailers.
Zeroing in on 21- to 34-year-old Hispanic consumers, HUSA will feature its line of Cheladas, Saltzstein said. Dos Equis Cheladas are growing around +12% YTD, and the company is looking to maintain the momentum through sampling. The brand will also be partnering with Mexican American band Fuerza Regida on their upcoming tour.