Heineken Asks Fans, 'What’s Your Play?'

White Plains, N.Y. — Heineken USA combined two cultural phenomena – social media and American football – to drive sales and raise category share during the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. From Jan. 3 to Feb. 1, the importer of brands such as Heineken, Heineken Light, Dos Equis and Strongbow ran a campaign called “What’s Your Play?”Leveraging Twitter and the National Football League playoffs, Heineken USA tried to maximize the party-planning mania that sweeps the U.S. every year and culminates with an event many Americans treat as a national holiday. The brand developed an @whatsyourplay Twitter handle for consumers to follow, and tweeted out questions for fans during playoff games throughout January and the Super Bowl on Feb. 1.Jonathan Simpson, director of commercial marketing for Heineken USA, says the target was anyone wanting to enhance the game day experience, but the questions had a distinctly male Millennial flavor to them. For example: “Took sick day, posted flag f-ball pic to FB. Boss ‘likes’ it. What’s your play?” And: “Your boss spots you checking fantasy stats during the meeting. What’s your play?” One more: “She’s cute, but you’re stuck in the Friend Zone. What’s your play?”Twitter followers were given 20 minutes to tweet their answers and earn branded Super Bowl party supplies such as home bar sets from Heineken and Dos Equis. Others who gave answers were tweeted back mail-in rebates and instant redeemable coupons (IRCs) to spur retail visits.Between playoff games and during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, the brand sent out tweets inviting consumers to “round up your posse and see who scores the most #prizes,” and “get your crew and see who can #win biggest,” and urging them not to “fumble plans for your big game party.” These messages align with the insights that Simpson says led to the creation of the campaign.“Shoppers need to step out of their comfort zones and make bold purchase decisions for football-viewing occasions and seek assurance that these choices will deliver a more memorable experience,” he says. “Their beer decisions make a statement about who they are, what tone they want to set at the party, and can ultimately earn the respect and acknowledgment of their peers.”A push to build awareness for the program began in the final week of December with promoted posts on Twitter. The promotion also leveraged mobile display advertising and an in-store presence across many retailer partners.A variety of displays including 6- and 10-case stackers, expandable pole-toppers, brand-specific lug-ons, price cards, tuck cards and cooler decals went up in stores on Jan. 3 and remained through the Super Bowl. “Where executed, the displays worked very hard for us in generating program interest and driving consideration for our brands,” says Simpson. “While it’s too early to see full results, we were quite happy with the levels of display execution we saw.”All in-store displays guided shoppers to the @whatsyourplay Twitter handle.Simpson says the campaign’s effectiveness will be evaluated by the understanding of retailer acceptance, levels of display execution, consumer and shopper engagement with the promotion, and sales and volume data during the program’s timeline.MediaVest, New York, developed the campaign’s path-to-purchase strategy and secured all digital partners. Amobee, Foster City, California, led the digital shopper marketing efforts with targeted mobile display ads and Twitter promoted posts, and Avid Marketing Group, Rocky Hill, Connecticut, managed the Twitter sweepstakes.

Heineken Asks Fans, 'What’s Your Play?'

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