• The New York Times, Friday, February 24, 2006 12 PM

Online advertising will play a major role in a broad-based marketing effort to support the upcoming U.S. launch of a new light beer from Dutch brewer Heineken. The new product, dubbed Heineken Premium Light, will roll into bars next week targeted to young men ages 25 to 29. To reach that audience, the company will advertise extensively on Web sites like espn.com, foxsports.com, maximcom, msn.com, stuffmagazine.com and yahoo.com. The online effort is the first leg of an estimated $50 million, multimedia campaign. TV and radio spots, print ads, outdoor signs, promotions and a campaign tailored to Spanish-speaking consumers are also on tap. The TV spots won't begin until the beer arrives in stores mid-April. The decision to lead off with the Internet ads was made because the target market "is a little more tech-savvy," said Andy Glaser, brand director for Heineken at Heineken USA in White Plains, "so reaching them in the online space is important."

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