Amstel on my mind

Clever hey? As in "Am still on my mind" Like "Amstel beer is still on my mind" Whatever.

I'm not an advertising guru but as I learn more, as my mind matures, I do actually learn some things along the way in this game of life. I always used to wonder why Coca Cola, of which everyone in the world knows of it, still do advertising? Same with Pick 'n Pay, who always put flyers in my letter box, pretty much constantly. Basically it is to make sure that these companies are fresh in your mind and you never forget them. If they stopped advertising, smaller comapnies could start pumping out the ads, and subconsciously, over time, you would start seeing their logo more in your mind and go shop there. Or something like that.

And so it brings me to the point of Amstel beer, and that they are being quite sneaky. And clever. We all know that Hansa Marzen Gold is basically the competition, and now that there is no Amstel in SA, they are trying to chip into Amstels market dominance. I have seen them doing promotions at places such as Tiger Tiger and I see their boards at Forres in Cape Town. Now while Hansa are a visual presence in bars, Amstel are maintaining their presence in the newspapers. They have ads saying things such as "After reading this ad you will be 15 seconds closer to your next Amstel". Their ads go along those lines. Now it got me thinking. While I don't drink much beer, and if I do I will have a Windhoek, the brand that is the freshest in my mind at the moment is Amstel.

To me this is genius. Here is a beer that is not even currently available, and yet it is still the one being talked about and seen. It's presence seems to be still quite strong in our minds. Hansa on the other hand don't seem to be keeping their presence up, other than by being stocked at various places. And while it is clever that the new Hansa looks like Amstel, did the Hansa crew ever think that people would say "But it's basically the new Amstel" You see, even though they may be drinking Hansa, they still talk about Amstel.

So Amstel is probably being spoken about with nearly every Hansa that is being bought, and this keeps Amstel fresh in everyones minds. So when it returns, people will not ever really think it had disappeared because they were still talking about it. And then, what Amstel hope, is that all their original drinkers will once again turn to Amstel. I have no doubt this will happen.

I think that's all quite clever.

Amstel, you guys impress me.

And once again, we finish off another conversation with the word "Amstel"

Amstel fresh in our minds

Sheer genius