From: dcb@rosedale.uucp (Dave Breneman)
Subject: Heileman did some things right (was Re: Buy American?)
Keywords: Heileman, Carling/National, Rainier, Heidelberg
Organization: The Spud Goodman Show
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 03:01:21 GMT

In article <mcnally.702324645@wsl.pa.dec.com> mcnally@wsl.dec.com (Mike McNally) writes:
>
>This might be a naive sentiment, considering that big brewers have bought
>so many small brewers lately.  Though the label may say Podunkbrau, it's
>probably owned by Heileman.
>
That's true, but I'd like to grudgingly say something in defense of Heileman.
I did a lot of research on this, as it was the subject of a term paper
I wrote on Anti-Trust Law and Brewery Mergers (not available by ftp :-)  )
as part of my BA/Econ degree a few years ago.  Heileman generally allowed
the breweries it purchased to maintain their local identity.  Although
they usually reduced the distribution area of the top-of-the-line beers
from the breweries they purchased, (usually because they overlapped with
the distributions of other breweries they owned) they kept most regional
and local brands on, where other expansionistic brewers had not.  

Now The Rest Of The Story---

They also killed many local and sub-regional brands (anybody in the
northwest remember Heidelberg - it used to be just as premium as Rainier,
now it's in the Buckhorn/Regal Select/Rhinelander/Schmidt section).
The fact that a little regional house like Heileman could buy out a
huge outfit like Carling/National is one of the triumphs of the junk
bond era, and led to Heileman's current economic trouble and subsequent
sale of many of its acquisitions to other breweries. 

Now, Page Two---

In fact, on a local Washington note, it wasn't Heilemann but the current
Australian owners of Rainier that dumped their previous "ad agency"
(basically ideas submitted by employees - some of the best television
advertising for any product ever, IMHO) and substituted some advertising
firm that has only within the last year or some even dared to come close to
the creative advertising that was done in-house.  When these guys took
over, Rainier started playing "end of the work day" type commercials with
people showing up at a bar, sharing good times, and all that crap, and it
wasn't until the end when you saw a Rainier neon sign in the window of the
bar in the final fade out that you even had a clue as to what beer was 
being advertised. They were the "Guess The Beer" commercials of the
80's - who knew what brand they were advertising?  Who cared?  A lot of
people who picked Rainier over another swill like Budweiser simply to
reward them for their great advertising were turned off and have never
gone back.  Rainier's "You're the Tops" ad, or the "Motorcycle" ad or
Mickey Rooney's "When I'm Calling You" ad were classics that've never
been touched by any brewery, let alone most other products of any kind,
IMHO.  At least Heileman kept the Rainier "Ad Agency" (of which the
folks at Rainier were justifiably very proud) going - to the benefit of
the broadcast advertising art.

...And Now You Know...  ...  ...The Rest Of The Story.

Good Day!

-- 
David Breneman            #################          I'm an American, dammit.
The Spud Goodman Show      ####### #######           What gives Russians the
dcb@rosedale.uucp           #####   #####            the right to have less
 ..uunet!camco!rosedale!dcb      (_)  - - - Ciao.    government than me?