Heineken, which has scored big with its awesome ‘Open Your World’ campaign by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, pulls the essence of this promotion for the new advertising project for Heineken Light, the product sold exclusively on the U.S. market. The new campaign, celebrating special experiences and running as part of the ambitious ‘Be a Man of the World’ platform, debuted last Friday (July 1) on national TV with the ‘Snakeskin Jacket’ spot, the first one in the series.
The advertising story, created for the ‘big brother’, Heineken lager, turned to be a real hit—it was started in December 2010 with ‘The Entrance’, the fabulous spot, which got 3 million views on YouTube in the first three weeks after the premier and was followed by ‘The Date’ in May. The new advertising effort running under the ‘Occasionally Perfect’ tagline was aligned to the celebrated campaign and is much more sophisticated than the brand’s previous slapstick ‘See the Light’ campaign. «Our consumers formed an immediate and deep connection with the ‘Man of the World’ figures featured in the Heineken Lager films ‘The Entrance’ and ‘The Date’,» commented Lesya Lysyj, Chief Marketing Officer, Heineken USA. «We worked closely with Wieden+Kennedy New York to ensure the Heineken Light ads inspired similar feelings of confidence and progressiveness while developing the creative to resonate with our uniquely American audience.»
The first commercial in the integrated campaign, created by Wieden+Kennedy New York, sees the protagonist, a man wearing a jacket made of snake skin (the title of the spot reveals this detail before the action starts), in various situations (at a business meeting or a golf course) where he’s not accepted well due to his clothes—he doesn’t seem to be depressed about it at all, but in such an attire he really looks more natural among the crowd at ‘a secret offshore charity snake-fighting event.’ “There’re some things best saved for the right occasion. But then they make those occasions a little righter. It’s like inside every snakeskin jacket there’s a little Heineken Light,” says the narrator.
With such a ‘snake’ touch Heineken is obviously putting its head into the mouth of animal protection activists (users comments on the brand’s YouTube channel prove it), but it will certainly survive and continue the campaign with a new sport ‘Moustache’—it will come later in July along with interactive consumer experiences to be launched throughout this summer. «Occasionally perfect’ is a bold statement to make. It says Heineken Light is special, but in a really unique way,» commented Ian Reichenthal, Co-Executive Creative Director, Wieden +Kennedy New York.
On July 1, Heineken and Google announced an innovative advertising partnership, which will begin with the launch of worldwide digital campaigns on YouTube and mobile phones for Heineken’s global brands. The two companies will also work on creating mobile campaigns in emerging economies, where mobile internet exceeds desktop use. In addition, Google will participate in Heineken’s internal education programme, with both companies bringing together their marketing professionals to exchange ideas and share knowledge, the press release states.