As the problems with the pandemic were softening, a new global issue was on the rise: burnout. With the mix of toxic hustle culture and the blurred lines of smart-working, people worked more and hung out less, creating a vicious cycle of poor mental health. We needed a new solution for this new problem. So we created a global campaign around a single activation. The Closer didn’t try to solve the problem, but acted as a social provocation to help people realize closing down is easier than they think. Because if a bottle opener can do it, so can you.

Coming out of the pandemic, people struggled to find work-life balance in a world of smart-working. What was promised to give them more flexibility, turned into not knowing when to disconnect from work-life and when to connect in real-life. 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.

The brief was to create an original idea that would help people realize that overwork is getting ridiculous and we all have the power to disconnect from work.

The creative idea was to use satire to remind people that closing down is easier than you think. So we created The Closer: a Bluetooth powered bottle opener that automatically closes your work when you open a beer.

The Closer became a way for Heineken to enter the work-life balance discussion and encourage people to #WorkResponsibly. The goal was not to make people believe that The Closer is the solution to overwork, but a social provocation to help people see that the pressure to work all the time is getting a little ridiculous and we all have the power to log off and go hang out with our friends.

The fun yet ridiculous nature of the device aligned with Gen Z’s sense of humor, using irony rather than a preachy attitude to get people to think about their love of hustle culture in a fresh way.

The strategy was to challenge a cultural trend — always-on work culture — to refresh people’s thinking on how they approach work-life balance, with a brand action. With technology making work more pervasive than ever before, people often feel powerless to disconnect. We wanted to find an entertaining solution that would help people realize that closing down is easier than they think.

While overwork hits a wide range of people, the campaign targeted Gen Z-ers. Those who feel they don't have the power to say no, who want to make a good first impression, and who are surrounded by hustle culture online.

The overall call to action came to life as the platform hashtag that twisted the classic Heineken #EnjoyResponsibly to #WorkResponsibly. Content and activations also lead people to Heineken.com/Closer where they could get the device and learn more.

The campaign launched with a satirical film that showed The Closer saving people from overwork, making it possible to go socialize.

At the same time, actor and comedian Billy Eichner (comedian/actor with 2.2M followers) hosted an Appe style press conference where he unveiled the work-life balancing device. Youtuber Austin Evans (5.38M subscribers) unboxed the device on his channel.

People could get The Closer at Heineken.com/Closer. Tech parodying content showed how the device worked in the form of 3D digital videos.

Since the point of The Closer was to remind people that closing down is easier than you think, whether you have The Closer or not, social content showed funny ways to close your computer for the day.

We also turned overworkers into ads to get people to stop overworking by creating guerilla projection OOH on windows of late night workers in overworked cities.

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

After the global pandemic, smart-working led to work-life imbalance—and not just in major cities like New York and London—but around the world. People didn’t know when to log off. What at first seemed like working at home, started to feel more like living at work. Mix this with a rise in hustle culture, social life seemed more and more out of reach. People forgot how to close work for the day, or even worse, that disconnecting was even an option. With work apps constantly drawing people back to work, it was this new behavior that inspired the work.