Heineken Marks 150th Anniversary With New Packaging, Campaign

The new packaging forms part of a broader campaign to mark the anniversary, which ‘shows how the brand doesn’t care how consumers drink, name or spell it, as long as they are having a good time with it, one way or another’, according to the beer giant.

TV Campaign

A new television commercial, developed by advertising agency Le Pub, shows consumers engaging with the drinks brand in different ways – from an incorrectly spelt tattoo of the Heineken logo to the many ways that the beer is served around the world.

“We’re open-minded about the way that our consumers refer to us, how they spell and nickname us, and how they drink Heineken because, we know this doesn’t really matter,” commented Bram Westenbrink, global head, Heineken Brand.

“Throughout our 150-year legacy, we have learnt that good times are not about getting it right, but the conditions, locations and people we are able to enjoy a beer with. While how we enjoy good times may have changed and may differ in each of the 192 countries we are sold in, the need for good times remains the same and consistent, just like our beer.”

Social Media

It also played around with the spelling of its brand on social media, rebranding as ‘Ainechen’, ‘Hekkenen’ and ‘Ainekan’, with the message ‘However you choose to pronounce us. Here’s to 150 years of good times!’

Elsewhere, the Dutch brand has partnered with human behavioural scientist, Dr Chris Brauer, Goldsmiths, University of London, to develop a brand tracking metric – the Heineken Good Times Index – to explore the ‘conditions that consumers need to experience that feeling of good times’, it said.

ESM