Heineken Suggests You Enjoy the Troubles the Asian Festive Season Brings
Heineken APAC launches its first global campaign targeting various festive seasons, initially rolling out in 15 Asian markets in the first quarter of 2019, including China and Vietnam.
Building on the brand's new global creative approach of a refreshing perspective on common beliefs, Heineken’s new campaign invites people to enjoy the holiday season to the fullest, by offering a fresh perspective on the mishaps that occur during the festive season, promoting a light-hearted, cheery attitude, that turn these troubles into enjoyable experiences.
In preparation for the campaign, Heineken interviewed consumers across the region in search of creatively inspiring insights. While rituals and festivals significantly vary from one country to the next, one key theme consistently re-emerged – that despite the strive for perfection, things seldom turn out as planned. In this context, Heineken’s role is to lend a fresh and witty way of perceiving the season’s imperfections: as the moments that end up being funny, memorable and in time turn into the best holiday stories.
Created by Publicis Singapore, this new festive initiative is digital at the core and is a fully integrated, through-the-line campaign headlined by TV, supported by an extensive outdoor blitz, and retail activation.
To ensure Heineken remains “un-skippable” during the festive season, the campaign is mobile-first, focusing content on online and social platforms, using iDDM and targeted media as placement strategy.
Apart from three 30-second TV ads, the campaign includes snackable 15 and 6-sec videos and GIFs titled "Holiday Troubles." While keeping viewers engaged, these snappy clips also relay the campaign idea, brand role and call-to-action, proving it is possible to tell a compelling story in a short window, without failing to neglect the business aspect.
The campaign is also designed in a modular way to push relevant content at a local level. Whether mobile or OOH, there's content on Chinese New Year, Vietnamese TET, Christmas and New Year, allowing the campaign to adapt and perform throughout different markets in the region followed by the rest of the world.
Maud Meijboom, brand development & communication director, Heineken APAC said: "The festive season is an important period where people strive for perfection - being the perfect host, the perfect chef, the perfect gift-giver. And with that, the perfect beer! Until now, Heineken hasn’t built a through the line campaign around this festive period. Especially in Asia Pacific, the demand from the countries in the region for relevant content was high. Exploring local insights together with the markets revealed a surprising fact: No matter how different cultures are, each one shares the same desire to make festive celebrations perfect. Inevitably, however, things go wrong. Heineken's role is to offer a fresh perspective: why not enjoy these troubles as part of tradition?”
Ed Booty, chief strategy officer, Publicis Communications, APAC said: “With the many diverse festivals and rituals across so many markets, creating one ‘festive’ campaign is challenging. Thankfully, mishaps happen in every culture; they’re the oldest tradition of all. Dispelling the myth of perfection and bringing a bit of levity to proceedings is the perfect role for Heineken.”
