In the Netherlands there is a trend to partnerships between advertisers/agencies/publishers in the ownership and exploitation of branded content & entertainment. Spot, in-program branded promotions or total adopted formats of TV-shows & events is becoming the new standard. Brands often have their own adding content or concept to the existing format, as a known or representative person is the spokesman for the campaign.

Why? Because brands want to connect their product to something already special for their target audience. To connect on a more intrinsic level.

2014 was full of special events for the Netherlands. Events like Kingsday, the Winter Olympics & the FIFA World Cup, all with their official sponsors and branded partnerships leading to strict advertisements regulations. So Heineken took branded entertainment to a whole other level!

To connect with a feeling that is close by heart to all Dutchmen, Heineken created a spokesman for the national pride ‘Orange Fever’. A spokesman to represent the nation’s excitement of all what was happening in Holland that year, and connecting this to Heineken.

Some of the online content were so successful, that we just had to put it on television. The Krattenkreet-video (wherein our COO wrote a message with 135.000 crates) was shown in Voetbal International, one of the most popular football talk shows in The Netherlands. By the end of June, we created the Onze Jongens-video, wherein our COO showed his gratitude to the Orange Fans. The video was later broadcasted pre and during the semi-final against Argentina. And though we didn’t won, still a record number of 12.5 million viewers saw the COO’s appreciation message.

The results of the COO content were astonishing. The excessive viral reach of the media lead to almost 7.5 million unique views (that’s half of our country’s population!). But we didn’t only gain attention by our own content. Radio shows, TV shows and national newspapers were all eager to speak with our COO, which created massive earned media attention.

The Chief Orange Officer served as a vital part of the overall campaign called ‘Celebrate the Orange Fever’. With this campaign Heineken managed to establish the highest increase in market share and penetration in over a decade. On top of that, after the campaign, Dutch consumers indicate with an index of 117% that they feel the brand is close to them again. And finally Heineken was mentioned as the number one ‘orange’ brand in all of the consumer research reports on this topic in The Netherlands.