UPDATE: only a few hours after this post, the unions at the Hoegaarden brewery announced they would stop undertaking industrial action and start negotiating what is called a "social plan" to see how the employees can be laid off in the, well, best possible circumstances. There also was an item on one of the national news broadcasts this evening in which the anchorwoman (link in Dutch) complained about InBev simply refusing to come into the studio to explain recent decisions. When asked if this was plain rude, the communications expert which had been invited instead, answered: "It certainly is not smart to say the least." How about cowardly? Or churlish, boorish, asinine, inane, ...
"PR? Never heard of. And we don't care about what the public thinks either." That is the feeling most of us have when it comes to InBev's communication 'strategy'. No wonder an otherwise gentle and well-mannered 90-something inhabitant of the town of Hoegaarden (who had known the brewery all his life - apparently, it was around already somewhere in the 14th century!) told a reporter doing some on site coverage that InBev could "go stuff it"...
According to De Standaard, sales of the pretty famous Belgian white beer Hoegaarden have dropped 60% over the past seven months. According to Ho.Re.Ca Vlaanderen (a Flemish branch organisation for the hotel, restaurant and café industry), this trend has been going on for some time, but has increased tremendously over the last months. What a coincidence: that is exactly the period after Hoegaarden owner InBev (who used to call themselves 'The world's local brewer' - yeah, right) announced that the production of Hoegaarden would no longer take place in the town of Hoegaarden, but in another plant in Belgium.
This announcement not only led to the loss of jobs (232 in Belgium due to the entire restructuring, 59 of which in Hoegaarden), but also to quite a stir-up among the public (for example: some 3,000 people protested in Hoegaarden not so long ago - link in Dutch). In the Hoegaarden area, of course, but also in the rest of the country.
Personally, I have always enjoyed a Hoegaarden from time to time, but there has been a bitter taste to the relatively sweet white recently. I know: the beer will probably not change, but the story behind it has shifted completely. What a pity.
Emotional branding is something the InBev management have apparently never heard of. And my advice would be they might read All Marketers are Liars; the subtitle The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World alone should be enough to open their eyes just a bit. Also: I wonder if InBev realise they are having a growing image problem in what used to be their home country. But then again: for a global holding such as InBev (the fusion company of Belgian Interbrew and Brazilian AmBev), Belgium is probably quantité négligeable...
