In the age of social media and elaborate marketing campaigns how can big names continue to build their brands, keep their products relevant, and grow their customer base? Enter, the Heineken marketing team. Heineken developed a cool event that I feel gets at the heart of viral marketing.
Having an innate love for soccer, academic background in sociology, and professional stake in digital marketing, I found this the Heineken marketing campaign both captivating and inspiring.
Every year, Europe waits for one of the biggest soccer matches that take place… the UEFA Champions League Game… and this year it was Real Madrid C.F. (my favorite team) vs. AC Milan. Needless to say that the Spaniards and the Italians were going to be busy that night.
To get the most impact Heineken decided to organize a fake event that would take place during the same time as the Real Madrid vs. AC Milan game. Heineken asked participants to bring or send their soccer-crazed boyfriends, employees, spouses, family members to this event, a poetry reading. Most people whose spouses or bosses asked for this favor obliged, reluctantly.
Here’s what happened…
As I have said before, unique marketing techniques aren’t gimmicks but rather pieces of work that evoke powerful emotional responses and does so for a targeted audience or demographic. Here, Heineken gets back to grass roots engagement with its beer drinkers.
I have heard people say, “I don’t drink beer…” or “I am not a big beer drinker, but if I did… I would definitely start drinking Heineken.”
This is every marketer’s dream… people who don’t even use your product say they would use your product if… if they used that type of product.