140 Years of Heineken
Brand Marketing
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https://youtu.be/HUmjBXfJ6jA
History of a Legacy
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In the 19th century Gerard Adriaan Heineken set up his family’s first brewery
in Amsterdam in 1864.
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He spent most of the subsequent years toying with and perfecting a recipe for
Heineken lager.
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The brand could have probably been brought to market in the 1860s, but
Gerard Heineken chose to be patient.
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if he sacrificed quality in order to make a quick buck, Heineken would never
be the premium, globe-trotting "gentleman’s beer" that he envisioned.
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In 1874, Gerard Heineken finally decided his family’s lager was stable enough
to travel and, thus, ready to be enjoyed by men around the world who
wanted to stand out.
Today
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Heinekens patience and determination has paid off. His family’s lager is sold
in more than 196 countries and is known worldwide as a premium beer.
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Heineken continues to modify its image and advertising tactics. In 2010
Heineken went to great lengths to unify its marketing strategies.
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In recent years, Heineken’s most well-known campaign has been its "Open
Your World" platform. In the video series, which has appeared widely on TV
and online, a "Legendary Man of the World" embarks on a number of
adventures.
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https://youtu.be/AIhNP9Gv9c8
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What makes the "Open Your World" campaign so effective is that Heineken
positioned it to be a platform, not a one-off commercial.
Local Executions
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Heineken created local executions and digital appendages that bolster the
campaign’s messaging and reach new consumers, both on-the-ground and on
social media.
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As part of the brand’s 2013 "Voyage" spot, for instance, Heineken created
"Departure Roulette," an on-the-ground installation at New York’s John F.
Kennedy Airport that gave wary travelers the opportunity to ditch their
current trip and fly to an unknown city on Heineken's dime.
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https://youtu.be/PenROORvLyw
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With "Departure Roulette" and other local executions, Heineken says it’s
seeking to promote a global message with location-specific and viral
accompaniments.
Real-time Marketing
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Once Heineken launched "Departure Roulette," it didn't sit back and wait for
the data to come in. Instead, the brand dove right into the conversation and
gleaned insights from the chatter.
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On Twitter, Heineken observed, throngs of users expressed that they would
have loved to have taken part in the experiment.
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To address that concern and display how flexible and reactive its marketing
is, Heineken tracked down some of those users and asked them if they
remembered tweeting about "Departure Roulette." Stunned, the users were
then given the opportunity to play the game.
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Heineken overheard on Facebook that many consumers felt its "Odyssey"
commercial was trying to pass of actors as real people with amazing talents.
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To dispel the rumors, the brand released a tongue-in-cheek response video
that addressed specific user comments and showed the characters’ actual
audition tapes.
YouTube liberates the
marketer
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Gianluca Di Tondo, Heineken’s senior global brand director says. "You’re free
from the straight jacket of a 30-second TV commercial and you can leverage
power of creative to the max.“
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Di Tondo says the brand swoons when it's allowed to brandish its wit as part of
a real-time marketing spot.
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Whether Heineken shows up at a consumer’s place of work or reaches out to
him or her on social media, the brand prides itself on seeking out its
consumers and joining them in their passions and hobbies.
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The brand’s largest digital interaction to date was its "Share the Sofa"
campaign. In preliminary research, Heineken discovered that 70% of soccer
viewers watch the matches alone, so the brand went to work on how it could
join its consumers on their couches and on their devices.
Embracing the ‘Second
Screen'
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The best method of meeting them, it reasoned, was to find them on their second
screen, (e.g. a tablet or smartphone). According to Heineken, 65% of Soccer
viewers use a "second screen" during matches.
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To join fans, Heineken created the #SharetheSofa hashtag. As part of the ninemonth campaign, consumers were given the opportunity to have their questions
answered by soccer stars or even watch a soccer match with a star.
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Overall, Heineken says, "Share the Sofa" was a groundbreaking campaign for the
brand. Not only was it birthed from careful data collection and insight study, it
was able to eventually leverage emerging technologies and consumer habits to
create a more relevant brand experience.
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"During the games itself, we can see in real-time who’s engaging with us and who
are the biggest influencers," says Paul Smailes, Heineken’s global head of digital.
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"We’ve reached more than 55 million people through this activation with more
than 1.2 billion impressions. We’ve seen association up 7% and purchase intent up
11 %," he adds.