What if we create an immersive event where the crowd decides what gets played next? Heineken presents: The Takeover! The first event in history where the crowd is in control of the music.

Upon purchase, every member of the audience receives a voting device placed on their Heineken bottle, activated at the push of a button to emit a green or red glow.

What should be played next – the red or the green song? Every member of the audience votes by simply activating the red or green light and raise their Heineken bottle. By linking the device to the bottle, Heineken creates a joint cheers moment every time the crowd is asked to choose!

The Takeover is an engaging, high-energy set of approximately 25 minutes, during which music, LED walls and light show work in sync. Throughout The Takeover, the MC hypes the crowd and encourages them to participate.

By raising their red or green lit bottles in the air during voting moments, the audience chooses between two songs shown on screen. A special camera records the votes (red vs green lights) and displays the crowd’s choice on screen real-time. The winning song is seamlessly mixed into the set.

At the heart of it all is just 1 laptop, receiving input from the camera, pointed at the crowd. The laptop controls the output to the sound system, lights and LED walls. In order to implement The Takeover, special plugins were developed specifically for Ableton Live, the software program used to run the show, delivering a world’s first in applying this combination at music events.

Implementing The Takeover at Heineken’s music events delivered the following results:

1) Event attendance: increased by 40%

2) Media exposure: increased by 110%

3) Sales on site: increased by 240%