• Ad Age, Thursday, August 31, 2006 1:15 PM

Beer marketer Heineken might have fought a battle of the brands following the launch of its new Heineken Premium Light this summer. While the new brew has exceeded the company's expectations, the success may have come at the expense of one of the company's other brands: Amstel Light. Heineken officials deny the connection, contending that the two beers have entirely different target markets. But sales of Amstel, which were already on the downswing, dropped about 11 percent this summer. Despite the denials, Heineken is preparing a new ad campaign designed to distinguish the two dueling brands. While Heineken Premium Light's marketing efforts focus on getting domestic-light-beer drinkers--most of them female--to trade up, Amstel stays positioned as a more masculine, luxury brand for high-income men. "They really want to anchor Amstel in premium elements," says Brook Jay, an executive with All Terrain, the agency handling event marketing for the brand. "By taking Amstel up to a new level, we can keep it discernible."

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