Heineken Addresses Work-Life Imbalance by Highlighting Lonely Workers Stuck in Office after Hours

Those walking down Midtown Manhattan last week may have spotted a unique stunt projected onto multiple office buildings by Heineken. Using lonely office workers working late as the focal point, Heineken was able to put a refreshing twist on their advertisement by opening a window into the world of work-life imbalance and how it continues to impact people globally.

Accompanied by the tagline 'Overworking? The Closer can help', the eye-catching ad shone a light on the all-too-familiar scene of a worker stuck in the office burning the midnight oil, missing out on real moments of connection with friends because of work demands.

The statement projection was the latest chapter in a recent campaign from Heineken entitled ‘The Closer’, which saw the beer brand launch an outlandish, high-tech bottle opener designed to immediately shut all work applications when used to open a bottle of Heineken. ‘The Closer’ is helping the brand to spark a much-needed conversation about the importance of resisting societal pressures to be in a constant state of work.

The product was first announced at an exclusive launch event reminiscent of iconic tech product announcements, including a keynote address by Billy Eichner and a dramatized campaign film illustrating the increasing demands of our always-on work culture.

“As a brand that is built around the celebration of real moments of human connection, we strongly believe that life is about making time for friends over a beer, and not for late nights in the office alone,” said Bram Westenbrink, global head of Heineken Brand. “Through this campaign, we are challenging the culture of overworking that continues to get in the way of moments that matter. By projecting our ad onto a building where people were actually working late into the evening, we hope to encourage people to reprioritise the ‘life’ in ‘work-life balance’.”

To further support Heineken’s mission and reach even more residents of the 'City that Never Sleeps', the creative projection was also featured in a print advertisement in the New York Times, creating an ad of an ad of an ad.

This is the second part of Heineken’s new creative expression ‘For a Fresher World’, which aims to refresh the world by showing that life tastes better with an open mind. Through this new marketing approach, Heineken campaigns globally will strive to: challenge the obvious; reconsider stereotypes; and oppose tired cliches.