• Ad Age, Friday, March 26, 2010 10:38 AM

Jeremy Mullman talks with Heineken CMO Christian McMahan about the marketer's attempts to reverse its precipitous sales decline in the U.S. -- nearly 11% last year for its flagship brand and even more for Heineken Premium Light and Amstel Light.

A new campaign for Heineken from Euro RSCG, the brand's fourth agency in four years, is targeted to the youngish "social all-star who doesn't play it safe." In one spot, a young man decides, against his more prudent side, to attempt to seduce the boss' daughter by ordering her a brew at an office party.

"For the longest time, Heineken stood for being the premium brand in the U.S., and now that's become a very crowded space," says McMahan. "It can't just trade on image and status anymore."

Euro RSCG, by the way, creates the ads for Dos Equis' popular "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign. Heineken NV recently bought Dos Equis from Femsa Cerveza.

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