For 150 years, Heineken has prided itself on delivering the perfect serve with pure malt, quality brew, 45-degree angle pours, and guidance under a star.

In Laos, beer is enjoyed with ice, contrary to Dutch expectations. Adapting to local customs, the challenge was integrating Heineken without compromising its premium taste due to ice dilution.

With Laos' tropical climate and cultural habits, changing beer consumption wasn't feasible. The task became finding a solution to make Heineken more relevant locally.

Despite the dilution risk from ice, our goal was embedding Heineken in local culture without compromising taste and brand distinctiveness. This approach sought to align Heineken with Laotian beer-drinking behavior while preserving its premium quality.

Transform a local drinking habit into a celebration of Heineken's distinctive brand quality with Star Ice—crystal-clear, star-shaped ice cubes born from Heineken beer. This groundbreaking product pays homage to Heineken’s star brand asset and malt lager taste, seamlessly fitting into Laos' beer culture.

The allure of Heineken Star Ice lies in its meticulous blast freeze process, achieving cubes 20% colder than regular ice at -35 degrees Celsius. This innovation serves as a new trigger, keeping Heineken at the forefront when the "ice-cold beer craving" strikes.

After six months of development with ice experts, Heineken crafted a flawless and premium ice cube, maintaining brand flavor superiority without alcohol and water separation.

The magic extends to melting; Heineken's Star Ice melts at twice the rate of regular ice, ensuring your beer stays ice-cold for longer, preserving Heineken's premium taste wherever it's served on-premises.

Our target audience is Gen Z & Y (18 – 34yo) who want to get the most out of life. They are worldly, open-minded and ambitious, yet anxious and excited about what their future holds.

Therefore, we appealed to them with a strategy that challenges a cultural trend - always-on “beer with ice” culture - to show that with our 150-year celebration, Heineken will bring a fresh perspective to the uniquely Laotian ways of drinking beer.

Heineken spared no detail in the presentation of Star Ice. The cubes are encased in a premium package that is sure to catch the eye and leave a lasting impression. This attention to detail elevates the experience, transforming ordinary beer moments into extraordinary ones.

During early July – October 2023, we’re inviting Laotians to join the movement and embrace the coolness. It is more than just a trend; it signifies a celebration of unity and shared experiences at our launch event and on Facebook. We also grabbed their attention by spreading the word online using Laotian KOLs and influencers promoting Star Ice all over Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Therefore, we can refresh Laotians’ world with Heineken Star Ice and symbolize the coming together of cultures, creating unique and memorable beer moments like never before.

Heineken embraced local tradition, in a way that leverages its iconic taste, distinctive brand, and worldly inventiveness. We took a behavior that was diluting our brand – literally and figuratively and made it into a celebration of Heineken in the context of local Laotian beer drinking.

We made our brand exciting and highly relevant to local consumers, which resulted in a sales uplift and massive talkability surrounding our brand.

Heineken Star Ice delivered-

• 1.8M total reach

• 3.3M total impressions

• 19,800 units served with Heineken

• 24% sales volume increase during the campaign compared to a year previous