Heineken®: Refresh Your Music, Refresh Your Nights

Beer and music have one thing in common: they bring people together – which is also Heineken®’s call to action. Here’s how we gave life to a brand new music experience for fans.
The Challenge
A unique music taste is what makes you, well, unique. Some people are rock lovers while others like R&B, some dance to EDM while others love singing along to pop music.
Yet, despite our willingness to explore and discover new styles, music stereotypes keep us trapped within the same music experiences.
Heineken® knows that – that’s why they believe in bringing fans together with authentic music experiences that break stereotypes.
But how do you bring this vision to life? And how do you create something that both renowned and emerging artists want to be involved in?
When Heineken® asked us and our partners ALDA and Publicis to find a way to help consumers discover new music genres while also positioning themselves as a facilitator of music exploration, we cheered for that and said: “Let’s get to work”.
The Approach
Although we love jamming on our guitars and kicking those bass drums, we are also a music partner. From conception to execution – we helped Heineken® amplify their impact way beyond music production and composition.
To strengthen their brand image as champions of open-mindedness, we took six popular global music genres (pop, rock, rap, EDM, R&B and classical) and crossed them with four genres popular in Malaysia and Vietnam, the target audience of the campaign, creating a total of 24 playlists – or shall we call them blendlists? – specially curated by us.
We didn’t stop there. We also wanted to bring bespoke curation to life, so we collaborated with a selection of locally renowned artists to ask them if they would be up for remixing a song by The Chainsmokers in their unique style.
After a fan-voted contest, the winners of the competition were given the opportunity to record their own version and perform their song at two massive Heineken® Refresh events in Malaysia and Vietnam.
Together with Big Sync, one of our sister companies, we cleared the rights for those re-recordings to happen. We also crafted the bespoke music for all BTL content, which was used for all campaign materials and at the events. Curious to know what it sounded like? Check the video at the top of this page.


The Solution
A cold Heineken® paired with a new kind of music experience? Sounds like a great idea.
On 9th December in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and 10th December in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Heineken® hosted two massive concerts headlined by Grammy-winning artist-duo The Chainsmokers who, as champions of an original blend of EDM, live instrumentation and pop music, represent the perfect fit for a genre-bending extravaganza.
Free to attend, both concerts were major successes, with over 85,000 music fans in attendance. By offering a night to remember for many, Heineken® also amplified their impact by tapping into music culture.
If this is not raising the bar, we don’t know what is 🍻
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