Heineken Case

Background

Nowadays, sharing your opinion, beliefs, point of view through social media has become a common thing. There are gays, lesbians, transgender, straight people, atheists, deists etc. All of these terms divide people in social media. For example, one feminist girl posts a picture on Instagram promoting feminism and people start to express their opinion in comments section below. Some agree some disagree with her and as a result they start arguing and hate each other, besides the fact that they barely know each other. Cases like this are seen every day and they can lead to bigger issues if something will not be done about it.

We’ve had the positioning of the brand that I just told you about – being open, looking out and celebrating diversity – for years. At the same time, what we see around us is a world that is more divided than ever. These combined with the insight that we’re probably not as open as we think we are. This is also amplified by technology: we are on our phones and on social media all the time, where we are surrounded by people who think like us. So whenever something that isn’t the same as our beliefs happens, we are shocked.

We realised that, as a brand, we can really play a role here. Our tagline has been Open Your World for years and we saw that there was a place for us to inspire people to look for common ground, have real discussions face-to-face and really look for more understanding, even if they don’t agree with the other point of view (Cindy Tervoort, head of marketing at Heineken UK).

If you're tired of arguing with strangers on the Internet, try talking with one of them in real life (Barack Obama, ex-president of USA).

Overview

N.V. Heineken. It is a Netherlands brewing company founded in Amsterdam in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken. Heineken has owned more than 165 breweries in more than 70 countries since 2017. It produces 250 beers and ciders international, regional, local and specialty and employs about 73,000 people.

Heineken N.V. has an annual production of 188.3 million hectoliters of beer in 2015 and global revenue of EUR 20.511 billion in 2015. It is Europe's number one brewer and one of the world's largest brewers by volume. The Dutch breweries of Heineken are located in Zoeterwoude, Hertogenbosch and Wijlre. The original Amsterdam brewery, which was closed in 1988, is preserved as a Heineken Experience museum.

Heineken was the second largest brewer in the world since the merger of the world's two largest brewing empires, Anheuser - Busch InBev and SABMiller, in October 2016.

The Heineken company was founded in 1864 when Gerard Adriaan Heineken, 22, purchased a brewery in Amsterdam called De Hooiberg. Heineken switched to bottom-fermenting yeast in 1869. In 1873, the name of the brewery changed to Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij from Heineken and in 1874 opened a second brewery in Rotterdam. In 1886, the Heineken laboratory was developed by Dr. H. Elion, a pupil of French chemist Louis Pasteur. This yeast is still Heineken's most important ingredient.

HEINEKEN is now Europe's number one brewer and the world's number two brewer. They operate in more than 70 markets worldwide, making them the most international brewer in the world. They have increased their exposure to emerging markets significantly in the last decade, which will be a catalyst for their growth.

They are committed to creating long-term value. The HEINEKEN strategy is based on four action business priorities. They are designed to enable the company to win on the market, focus on company's long-term sustainability and continue to deliver growth and shareholder value.

Some of the company’s values:

We build true human connections and break down barriers, because we believe great moments of shared experiences are the best in life.

We are inspired by consumers to brew the best beers and extend that same passion to all of our brands, products and activities.

We are proud of our family history and Dutch heritage and derive from them our entrepreneurial spirit that takes us to every corner of the world.

Introduction

“Worlds Apart” campaign created by Heineken is a research alike campaign. It promotes openness and explores whether common ground can bring people together. Documented in a film, the social experiment required strangers who had opposing beliefs on topics such as feminism and climate change to work together to complete a menial challenge. After the challenge the company revealed opposing sides beliefs. For example, they could make a feminist work with someone who has something against feminism. After their beliefs are revealed they have an option to walk away or stay and have a conversation over a beer.

Heineken’s tagline has been “Open Your World” for years and all they saw was a world more divided than ever. So, they decided to play a role in here and create a common ground for all people with opposite beliefs.

As a result they have 40 million views across the different social platforms right now and 91% of all sentiments are positive. People’s comments have been very emotional and touching, so the campaign really resonated with a lot of consumers. They received messages like ‘We should really talk more’, ‘listen more’ and so on, which is exactly the message that Heineken wanted to bring across.

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