Burnout and overwork meant that after-work drinks with colleagues became a dying tradition. In fact, bar owners lamented 25% loss in revenue because workers aren’t doing post work drinks anymore.

As the first drink of the evening, Heineken was most affected by the culture of overwork. Working late meant that people were skipping after-work drinks, thus skipping the main consumption occasion for Heineken.

Heineken had a role to play in protecting social life from overworking - not just from a brand purpose perspective, but it also made sense from a business perspective.

The idea was to leverage Park’s social presence to introduce a new ghost story - One that highlighted the need for a better work-life balance. The initial video from Park depicted “paranormal activity” in a bar, raising curiosity and online conversation. A social film then linked the ghost at the bar to an office worker putting in late hours, raising awareness about overworking culture in South East Asia. Both social media assets and digital tools, spread the message to friends being ghosted that they should call out their overworking friends, incentivising them to leave the office and join them for drinks.

Asia (in our case, Malaysia & Singapore) has a collective oriented mindset. There is a “duty” towards group members to attend social events altogether, even dress in a similar fashion.

One reason for overworking that’s unique to the APAC region is that employees feel guilty to leave work while their co-workers are still in the office.

We used the same societal pressure to show that employees were actually letting someone else down: their friends.

The campaign is based on research by Heineken, conducted by YouGov, which revealed that 45% of young people in Singapore and Malaysia ‘ghost’ their friends due to work commitments. What's more, 64.5% feel burned out at work, and 42.5% believe work has impacted their relationships with friends and partners.

The campaign aims to help young people shift away from the culture of overworking and enjoy socializing instead.

The first touchpoint with audiences was Park’s ‘found-footage’Instagram reel, posted on his social media account, which got 6M+ views in a week's time. The reel got people talking of a “haunted bar” and boosted online conversations on the paranormal activity that Park witnessed. Two weeks later, Heineken launched the reveal video, linking the “paranormal activity” that Park recorded with how friends who chose work over friends are effectively “ghosting” them.

After the reveal, Heineken launched the ‘Ghost Generator’ social tool so users could call out their friends about how they were choosing work over them and invite them to the bar. A week after that, and a month after the initial reel, Heineken hosted a ‘ghosted bar’ event where users could experience first-hand the paranormal activity they saw on Park’s reel, while enjoying a beer with the ghost of the friend who regularly ghosts them.

The ‘Ghosted Bar’ campaign had a global reach of 2.4 Billion, with the launch assets receiving 31 MM views in the first week alone. News and lifestyle outlets in South East Asia picked up the campaign, generating 227 pieces of coverage with an approximate PR value of USD $2M. The ‘Ghosted Bar’ experience was featured in almost every online event guide and newsletter in Singapore and Malaysia. After the ‘Ghost Generator’ was made available, users sent 12K ghost reminders to their friends within the first 24 hours. Because users also shared their interactions online, the activation became the trending topic under the hashtags #Paranormal and #Haunted. The ‘Ghost Generator’ got so much traction that it was made available even after the campaign ended, so everyone can still use it to remind their friends to get out of the office earlier and share a beer with them.