One of the world’s largest and most truly global beer brands has produced a sublime example of subtlety and brand association by pitting strangers together over flat-pack furniture.
Following Pepsi’s recent marketing disaster featuring Kendall Jenner, Heineken has achieved what so many brands try and so few manage to do – bring a social/political message into the conversation.
The ‘Worlds Apart’ campaign by the monolithic Dutch brewer teams three pairs of strangers with wildly differing world views.
Without prior warning, the pairs are each asked to assemble a package that ends up – conveniently – to be a bar, over which they can share a beer and discuss their differences.
As CUB is drawn into the jetwash of AB-InBev’s takeover of its relatively new parent company, SAB Miller, and major brewers around the world fight for their identity and share of a seemingly persistent movement toward ‘crafted’ beers, the Heineken staple has maintained relevance, market share and ultimately, brand integrity.
