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Interview

Heineken: global ambition for consumers

Heineken’s new creative positioning taps into the emotional sensibilities of its target audience and, writes Mark St. Andrew, lies behind the beer brand’s impressive haul of awards at Cannes Lions 2011.

If bouts of creativity are cyclical, then Heineken is very much in the ascendant. The beer brand’s success at Cannes Lions 2011 bears testament to the creativity coursing through its veins. Talking to Heineken’s global communication manager Sandrine Huijgen, it’s easy to be swept up in the passions that run high in her team.

This passion manifests itself in Heineken’s new ‘Legends’ campaign, a fully-integrated global strategy. “We wanted to switch from talking about Heineken to talking about the drinker so we could engage with our target audience emotionally,” says Huijgen.

At no point does she mention competitors, instead regarding the likes of Nike, Apple, Old Spice, BMW and Chanel as Heineken’s bedfellows. “These all have, for very different reasons, a very strong consumer-brand relationship. We want consumers to love Heineken, but we’re not there, yet.”

The new positioning encourages drinkers to “be a man of the world”. It begins with ‘The Entrance’, in which the Heineken man arrives at a party with the ultimate dramatic entrance. As Huijgen explains, this taps into the universal desire to be noticed: “A man of the world is confident, resourceful and open to new people and experiences when making an entrance.”

Echoing Coke’s new ‘liquid and linked’ approach to content the full 90-second version of ‘The Entrance’ is a central piece of content refashioned for different platforms and occasions. The full film is seeded online and a shorter 30-second slot is used for television, while an interactive version hosted on the campaign site allows viewers to explore back stories of the other party guests.

A partnership with Google has led to extensive display advertising, and the experience is completed by the soundtrack, The Golden Age, by Danish band The Asteroids.

SEASONAL APPROACH
This cross-platform approach offers a solution to the issue of trying to plan content distribution to a global audience. “Beer is very seasonal,” explains Huijgen, “so not all the consumers are exposed to the campaign at the same time. The challenge lies in combining the internet and global launches.” The Google arrangement involves each market launching its own version of the campaign on a local YouTube channel, complete with home page takeovers and pre-rolls.

Response to ‘The Entrance’ has been extremely positive. “In the first three weeks, it was watched more than four million times,” explains Huijgen, “and we’ve had especially good feedback from the US, Argentina and Greece.”

The gamble in putting a piece of content front and centre of a global campaign appears to have paid off. “It was always part of a much bigger discussion,” says Huijgen, “we wanted to be much more innovative, and this has come together as a very clear vision.”

Perhaps unusually for a campaign that relies so heavily on a strong piece of creative, the brand team at Heineken has been closely involved with the creation process. “We worked with Wieden+Kennedy right from the beginning. We would discover what works during rehearsals and take our time shooting the material. We’re involved in the edit stage, which is a wonderful part of the process, very rewarding. I’m not sure I want to go back to the traditional way of working with advertising!”

When I first meet Huijgen at the Carlton in Cannes it is before ‘The Entrance’ and its follow-up ‘The Date’ have scored their impressive haul of Lions. A few weeks later, I ask her to describe the mood at brand headquarters in just three words. She replies “enthusiasm, momentum and passion” without missing a beat. Being loved isn’t a long way off.

Mark St. Andrew