In Vietnam’s young, highly competitive, fast growing beer market, Heineken Original was ageing fast. One of the most visible signs, was our packaging. Brands winning with young adults had already shifted to sleek (tall & slim) cans. Heineken was still holding onto the traditional (short & fat) one. We realized, to change their perception of us, we had to change our cans first.

Heineken pioneered electronic music in Vietnam, the launch of our new can was the perfect opportunity to reignite this innovative spirit. We started with a simple observation. No matter what angle you look at the sleek can, only two letters of the brand name are visible. What if we could find a way to let our drinkers play with these two-letter combinations and match them to the names of some of the hottest local and international artists?

Open any convenience store fridge and there is a good chance (whether you’re reaching for a beer or not) you will end up with a sleek can in hand. While the launch of a new can was a big thing for us, it wasn’t a big deal to young drinkers. If we wanted to send a signal that this was more than just a simple packaging change, we would have to elevate the drinking experience and look at this from an entirely new angle.

Forming a first of its kind partnership with Spotify, gave the brand unprecedented access to a roster of artists that would have been impossible to sign individually. The experience was enabled by bespoke technology which included Letter Recognition AI and an AR algorithm that transformed every can into a personalized virtual concert. When users scanned the can, every turn of the logo unlocked an exciting new audio-visual experience. Seven two letter combinations allowed us to sync up with 583 famous singers and bands from every imaginable genre providing a remarkable and always surprising result with every turn. We also enabled our audience to add artists’ names that matched the two letters to create their own unique playlist, adding an additional layer of engagement to the campaign.

The results were off the charts. Over the campaign period we sold 23.3 million Heineken Sleek Cans which translated into a 40% growth rate vs the previous year. Users spent 5,200,000 hours listening to Heineken generated music tracks, and from an engagement standpoint we witness an unprecedented 546,000 shared playlists across social media platforms which smashed all expectations…. everything else was music to our ears, including the 25.2 million reach, 7.4 million engagements, 3 million livestream views and over-achieving our campaign target metrics by over 210%.