All around the globe Heineken is known for its premium character – even James Bond drinks it. In the Netherlands however, Heineken is pretty mainstream. Therefore Heineken’s Dutch strategy is to approach men as not very sophisticated creatures that simply like to be entertained. That’s exactly what this commercial communicates. While the girls are waiting to see ‘top models singing on ice’ – a mash-up of all the talent crap TV produces nowadays – the men get very excited by Men with Talent. After the big success of the Heineken walk-in fridge, the beer brand asked TBWA\Neboko to come up with a follow-up with the same kind of humour and the same level of likeability among the target. A difficult task given the uniqueness of the walk-in fridge concept and the amount of awards it won. But we think TBWA did a good job. Just as the walk-in fridge, the over the topness of this new commercial made us laugh out loud – and that doesn’t happen very often. Not very sophisticated, but very entertaining.
Holland won 18 Epica awards – four times gold – last week in Belgrade. It ended fifth after Germany, France, Sweden and the UK. Our favourite gold went to Kit Kat Jesus. Kit Kat pretended as if Jesus had been spotted in a Kit Kat bar and this news spread as quick as only internet can spread news. We didn’t just like it because we are atheists (or at least agnostic), but more so because we love simple (but great) ideas that generate tons of free publicity. We found it a little odd that this was in the category ‘technique’, but apparently their was no better category available – the category ‘big idea’ would have been more to the point. It was done by UbachsWisbrun/JWT. Heineken’s Walk-in fridge also won gold in ‘film’ – it was submitted by TBWA’s production company CZAR. 180 won gold for Adidas with ‘Every team needs the spark’. And Grey won gold in print for Pink Ribbon.
In the Netherlands every year the public is asked to choose the best commercial of the year. Not a bad idea, when you realize that eventually advertising is made for them. The award is called the Golden Loeki. Until 2004 ‘Loeki de Leeuw‘ (Loeki the lion) was the bumper icon of the STER, the organization selling the advertising clusters on the public channels; Netherlands 1, 2 and 3. Though officially the prize is awarded to the most ‘likeable’ commercials, it almost always goes to ads that use humour to get the message across – which says something about the average consumer, for that matter. This year the award goes to Heineken’s walk-in fridge, made by TBWA\Neboko. Indeed, a funny commercial. It was very successful this year. It already won a golden ADCN (Dutch Art Director’s Club) award. And internationally it also did well. A few weeks ago it was awarded a Silver Eurobest award and this summer a Silver Lion in Cannes. And that’s interesting. Usually there’s a big gap between what international ad pundits appreciate and what the consumer likes. Not only do the experts prefer smart, esthetical or sophisticated advertising (instead of simple jokes), Dutch humour is often culturally challenged – i.e. nobody outside the Netherlands understands it. So TBWA\Neboko made a very effective ad, it sells beer to the consumer and the agency abroad.
At the IMC Awards the Heineken ‘Trompet’ (a drum disguised as a hat for football fans, which was a follow-up of the speaker hat – a hat disguised as a speaker) by TBWA\Neboko won a golden IMC Award. Upload Cinema for De Uitkijk by Lowe/Draftfcb, also won gold. The Heineken Trompet was distributed around the European Championships 2008 as a premium – together with 8 cans of Heineken. We earlier wrote about Upload Cinema – creating long form content for a cinema, by making a compilation of long tale, short form content from the internet. All in all Amsterdam scored very well. And with 16 prizes in total, the Netherlands was the best awarded country in Europe.
This weekend ‘Carousel’ for Philips, made by Tribal DDB, won a Film Grand Prix in Cannes! Last week the online case was already awarded with a silver Cyber Lion. According to film jury member Richard Bullock (180 Amsterdam) the jury was unanimous and quick to decide that this was a Grand Prix. David Lubars (BBDO), who presided the film jury, called it mind blowing and said it showed the way forward. True enough; the technique gives an extra (interactive) dimension to film. And when content is fully animated, the viewer can even change the ‘camera’ angle in any desirable way – which we saw earlier this year in the commercial for the game Killzone 2. Other Amsterdam winners in Film: TBWA\Neboko won silver for its Heineken walk-in fridge and bronze for its IDFA films – both commercials won a golden ADCN lamp earlier this year. Amsterdam agencies Indie and Ogilvy also won a bronze Lion for respectively Orange Babies and Sensoor.
Heineken’s walk-in fridge by TBWA\Neboko is already a classic. After Bavaria couldn’t resist to spoof it, here’s another brand that loves the concept. Execution is a bit shitty, but it still honours TBWA’s original.
TBWA\Neboko made yet another walk-in-fridge-commercial for Heineken. Only this time it can actually walk! It made us laugh out loud! To fully appreciate it, you need to see the original – that’s a pity. But timing and execution are perfect. Especially the Polish building labourer (of which we have many in the Netherlands) is brilliantly casted. And although we still don’t drink Heineken, we are loving the brand for this beautiful content!
‘WTF?!!!’ was our first reaction when we saw this commercial for Jillz. Apart from the fact that we don’t drool on male hard bodies, we just didn’t know what to think of it. But after watching it a few times, it slowly started to grow on us. It has a Moulin Rouge over-the-topness and production value that’s quite irresistible. Jillz is a new sparkling cider (containing 5% of alcohol) that should give Heineken’s product portfolio more balance towards women. And that’s probably why the ad, made by Pink and Poodle (what kind of association should this name evoke?), is so explicit about its target.
Heineken’s walk-in fridge spoofed by Bavaria. The pay-off ‘Zo’ basically stands for ‘after this great accomplishment, I deserve a Bavaria’. The ad was brilliantly conceived by Selmore. The message is clear; Bavaria is not for sissies. The execution could have been done better, but Selmore’s Oliver Koning assured us they had very little time to shoot it. This is not the first time Bavaria borrows a competitor’s advertising property; it used a character from the immensely popular ‘Amstel-friends’ commercials that ran in 2003. Here’s an example (“Hey, guys… Haven’t you started yet?”) – awarded with a Golden Loeki. In 2004 Bavaria made a commercial with two of these friends, just after Amsel had announced to ‘kill’ them. Bavaria put them on a bounty island and made them open a bottle of Bavaria (‘Zo’). Amstel (also owned by Heineken) was not amused. And talking about actors that work for different beer brands: the Bavaria actor in this spoof is Marc Bennink, creative director at UbachsWisbrun/JWT. Earlier he played in a Dommelsch beer commercial that also won a Gouden Loeki (in 2000).
We came across this walk-in fridge spoof and suspect it was made by TBWA\Neboko – the same agency that made the original. Heineken wouldn’t mind of course, if more consumers follow this example, but as building a walk-in fridge is slightly more complicated than, let’s say, making a Coca Cola geyser with Mentos, we doubt if they will. In any case, the viral is great entertainment and will definitely be viewed and passed around. Which confirms once again that advertising is shifting towards branded content and that Heineken understands this dynamic.
