The Apple Cider market has been under pressure in recent times driven by younger consumers being less active in the category and lighter shoppers switching to other products. Heineken needed to breathe life into the quickly browning apple and arrest this decline. The challenge was clear - how do you launch a new cider into a declining category.

Apple cider isn’t relevant to younger drinkers. Mainstream cider brands were well known by 18-34s but their heritage filled tales largely fail to establish an emotional connection. We wanted to be relevant for younger people by really caring about what they cared about. Our consumer research identified that they are more likely to consider brands that care for the environment, but they can spot inauthenticity a mile off. Armed with this insight we developed a strategy to demonstrate that Inch’s was a planet first brand. It wasn’t just talk, we walked the talk by delivering sustainability across every single media touchpoint at scale to become the most sustainable alcoholic brand launch in the world.

We partnered with ITV for the first-ever Home Planet takeover which encouraged viewers to make changes to reduce household carbon footprint. We printed OOH on recycled paper ensuring that no unnecessary deforestation would befall our campaign. We created our most sustainable product sampling campaign ever by ensuring that at all points in the consumer journey there was opportunity to recycle the can. We reduced unnecessary digital data consumption by using data insights to identify moments where and when younger drinkers are most likely desiring a cold refreshing can. We pin-pointed digital comms around these moments to drive short term impulse sales and minimize carbon emissions.

We sold a huge volume of cider. 45% of Inch’s sales have been incremental to the cider category, this translated into a +9.2% of incremental spend into the total cider category in 2021. In addition, we also delivered a huge surge in prompted awareness, hitting 67% amongst 18-34s. Not bad for a first year, and compelling proof that sustainability works alongside effectiveness when you get it right.