Heineken was seen as an ‘older’ beer that was part of formal, stuffy drinking occasions in Asia. This led to Gen-Z feeling disconnected from the brand, perceiving it to lack relevance, be predictable, distant and elitist. With the introduction of a new brew targeted to Gen-Z, the aim of the Heineken Silver launch campaign was to drive desirability, brand relevance and sales amongst this target group and reverse the current brand decline.

At the same time, Heineken Silver was launching in several dark markets where beer advertising is banned. This meant that we had to pivot away from the traditional tv commercial and print launch, with the brief to come up with a new creative idea that would create cut through and promote the launch amongst our key audiences in Asia Pacific while cleverly working within strict advertising guidelines.

90% volume sales increase in APAC, marking the most successful launch in the brand’s history.

400 mentions across trackable online news in Asia Pacific

230k engagement on Heinekicks content along with endless organic features on TikTok

99% neutral-to-positive sentiment

2.7 billion impressions

1.4 million earned media

In terms of brand perception, the campaign also had a positive spillover effect on overall Heineken’s brand scores amongst the target audience, with a significant growth in scores in brand power (+3 points), brand meaningfulness (+11 points), and brand difference (+5 points) across launch markets in Asia Pacific.

The sneakers were also recognised as a significant cultural and fashion moment, having appeared on Sneakerfreaker, featured multiple times on Hypebeast, Vogue, and GQ, as well as being named dezeen’s top 10 fashion design projects of 2022.

To get Gen-Z to order a freshly-tapped pint of Heineken Silver, we had to tap into a culture that they were obsessed with: sneaker culture.

With the original Nike SB Dunk Low ‘Heineken’ being known as one of Nike’s GOAT pairs, and resale value going up to USD9000, we played off this heritage to launch a new pair of unconventional Heinekicks and get a new generation excited for a new brew – Heineken Silver.

Heinekicks was a branded product that showcased beer in the clear sneaker soles for the first time, carefully designed by The Shoe Surgeon to maximise branding, talkability and buzz. This became an innovative way through which we could utilise outdoor channels, communicating the launch of new Heineken Silver to our Gen-Z target audience via taking over window displays of sneaker stores in key shopping districts, booth placements at aspirational underground fashion events, and even projections on skyscrapers across Asia Pacific.

In addition, as Heinekicks were gifted to influencers around the region, this created another dimension to their placement outdoors as they were literally seen on the feet of influencers who wanted to be seen wearing the latest innovation in hype sneaker culture.