Using cultural data from around the world, we found that pervasive work apps make people work 7.6 hours of unpaid overtime a week globally. And 7 out of 10 people say they answer work messages after hours. Combine all this with a rise of hustle culture, it was clear people’s social lives were under attack. And as a brand that believes life is better when people come together, we wanted to remind people that closing down is easier than they think.

So as part of the launch and on-going promotion of The Closer (a bottle opener that closes your work apps when you open a beer), we went to some of the most overworked cities in the world like NYC, Sydney, and Toronto to turn people working late into ads about not working late.

There were 12.000 Closers produced and distributed in 115 countries, with different strategies market by market - as a purchase incentive, or raffle prize or super limited edition give away. It gained over 180 million euro in earned media, reaching 200 million overworked people around the world.

The campaign received over 1300 headlines in over 130 countries and helped Heineken enter and earn a place in the work-life balance conversation

We went to overworked cities, like NYC, Sydney, and Toronto, and turned people working late into ads about not working late.

The lone office with its lights on after dark is an iconic symbol of overwork. So we used a high-powered projector to create innovative OOH ads for our work-life balancing device: The Closer. These billboards didn’t require any billboard, just a small team, a big projector, and someone working late.

The projections were aimed next to the late night workers' windows with messages encouraging anyone struggling with work-life balance to check out Heineken’s innovative bottle opener that automatically closes your work, freeing you to have a social life again. The bottle opener is a real, Bluetooth powered device. 12K were produced as a limited edition item, distributed in 115 markets.

In many cities, the lone light on in a skyscrape has become a symbol of some poor soul working late. The “always-on” culture is now a global issue, with people all over the world feeling burnt out — because when people don’t switch off, they don’t socialize.