How THINKHOUSE Created the Radical AR Stunt for Heineken Ireland

In the lead up to tomorrow’s Heineken Champions Cup Final in Dublin, footage of a massive rugby ball, that radically changed Dublin’s iconic skyline, appeared to watch over the city. The footage went viral within a few hours of going live and the following day, Heineken® revealed that the “installation” never actually existed. It was a clever use of AR technology to drive excitement around the Heineken Champions Cup final, which takes place (Saturday, May 20th) tomorrow in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. 

Social media users were quick to comment on the stunt with one proclaiming “Jaysus the size of it. Hope there’s no storms next week!” (@romesrevs) and plenty trying to find out if the ball was in fact real. “I can’t work out if this is real or not!” (@mattamoo), “Is this real?? Walked past this morning and it wasn’t there” (@sizzlethedawg).

Commenting on the activation, Rachael Crawley from Heineken® Ireland said: “We wanted to have a bit of fun online in the run-up to the Heineken Champions Cup final and this was the perfect opportunity to do that. Our giant Heineken® ball that never actually was, goes to show that you don’t have to build big to create a big response!” 

Following the viral video, an instagram filter campaign was launched inviting fans to ‘place they ball’ in any location of their choice, tag @heinekenireland and @europeanrugbychampionscup to be in with a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Heineken® Champions Cup final at The Aviva Stadium. 

The stunt was created and delivered by THINKHOUSE in partnership with Heineken Ireland.