MIPTV honours Heineken’s multi-platform content vision

In 2011, the first ever MIPTV Brand of the Year Award, launched in partnership with Ogilvy & Mather, was given to American Express. This year, that honour goes to Heineken, for their thinking beyond traditional advertising.

 

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The case in point was the above film, called “The Date”, originally screened from May 2011, as the follow-up to the brand’s successful “The Entrance” film. With this new spot, however, Heineken went several steps further. The super-kitsch band that plays in the film was used as a way to interact with the brand’s community.

 

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Via this Facebook app, Heineken fans could ask the band to do a personalised serenade, to ask their beloved out on a date. This personalisation is explained in the above video.

 

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This activity naturally peaked in the run-up to St Valentine’s Day this year, with a “Serenade Live” TV show-style event taking place over nine hours February 9, across several locations. Again, fan participation was central, with couples videochatting throughout the show. Watch the show’s highlights above.

 

Heineken even made a Serenade for MIPTV! Enjoy 🙂
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Q&A with Cyril Charzat, senior director, Global Heineken Brand

MIPBlog: What does it mean for Heineken to win MIPTV’s Brand of the Year award? 

Cyril Charzat: Heineken as always strived to communicate a positive image of beer and its adult drinkers, far from the cliché of our industry. This award is a recognition of our efforts to produce world-class content in the areas of communication, design and digital.

Why did you decide to do a multiplatform campaign? Its figures are great – 3 million views for Serenade Live alone – but did they translate into sales? Or is your campaign ROI as a brand more than ‘just’ sales?

Our “The Date” campaign  aims at communicating a positive image of our adult consumer: confident, open-minded and caring enough to conquer a heart. Beyond this witty, dynamic inspirational content, we wanted to give our consumers a humorous tool to dare asking a girl out for a date.

“Serenade” is an entertaining and engaging content that reinforces affinity with our consumers and therefore drives image / equity. It’s too soon to tell what the direct impact on sales is, but the positive momentum of our brand in big markets such as the US is already a positive signal.

 

The MIPTV Brand of the Year Award will be given to Heineken’s Cyril Charzat at the Brand of the Year Party, April 2 (19.30, Majestic Hotel).  Meanwhile, find out more about the award here.