The Brief

Can a beer brand ever promote moderate drinking without seeming hypocritical? With binge drinking doubling in Singapore since 1992* , Heineken wanted to address this issue, in line with its commitment to responsible drinking. It would be nearly impossible to track responsible consumption. Besides noting a decline in sales, there was no reliable way of knowing whether people were drinking responsibly. So our objectives were structured differently: 1. Generating awareness of our campaign 2. Positioning Heineken as a ‘socially responsible’ brand *Source: Health Promotion Board 2013

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

THE FIRST-EVER SUNRISE AT SENTOSA BELONGS TO MODERATE DRINKERS The best nights out never end. Drinking responsibly however, meant pacing and enjoying the entire night. We wanted to create a memorable experience at sunrise as the ultimate reward for drinking responsibly throughout the night. We decided to launch our campaign at ZoukOut – Singapore’s biggest party attracting over 40,000 party punters. However, because of Siloso Beach’s geographical positioning in the West of the island, partygoers had never enjoyed an unblocked sunrise. We thus built our very own Heineken man-made sunrise, fuelled by festival goers dance steps, to reward moderate drinking.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

This campaign was highly successful, exceeding many of our goals. 1. Campaign awareness Within our 55 pieces of media coverage, 52.7% were from Tier 1 and 2 media. This included local and global publications like TrendHunter and Popwire. We generated 70 million impressions worth over S$400,000**. 2. Brand perception Heineken’s score on ‘Responsibility’ rose by 5% in the month post-campaign*** . Uniqueness went up by 6%, Closeness by 4% and Authority by 5%. **Source: Agency internal PR evaluation (Impressions totaled from online sources, and PR value estimated at S$7500 per outlet) ***Source: One Equity tracker Jan 2014 Males 18-44

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

As the Sunrise was fuelled by the attendee’s dance steps, through a dance-reactive kinetic floor right on the beach to capture the dance activity levels of the partygoers, the audience did not just watch the sunrise but made it happen. We created an involving remarkable experience at ZoukOut. Instead of telling our audience, a skeptical much-preached-to group, what to do, we involved them and let them experience the rewards of responsible drinking themselves. ZoukOut was also the most opportune moment to speak to them, given our target audience’s love for partying and the timing of the event (all-night party).