Heineken has launched a brand campaign in the UK that will seek to bring people with opposing views together.
Titled Open Your World, the campaign will kick off with a social experiment that sees strangers with different beliefs unite over a bottle of Heineken. They include a feminist and an anti-feminist, as well as a climate change activist and a climate change sceptic.
It’s a welcome antidote to the beverage industry’s recent advertising woes, following the fallout of Pepsi’s advert with Kendall Jenner. In the commercial, the television personality breaks ranks from a public protest to hand a can of Pepsi to a police officer in what was criticised as a trivialisation – and even an undermining – of race-related tensions in the US.
Watch: Heineken’s new advert
As well as the Worlds Apart experiment, the campaign will include an employee ‘Mix It Up’ campaign and Facebook chatbot that connects people from diverse backgrounds.
Heineken head of marketing Cindy Tervoort said: “Open Your World is the first-time Heineken has launched a campaign of this nature in the UK. Joining forces with [not-for-profit organisation] The Human Library is a way for us to inspire more people to focus on the things that unite us rather than divide us.
“We don’t all support the same football team, listen to the same music or share the same taste in clothes. We know we’re never going to agree on everything but there will also be common ground. Whether it’s 1950, 2017 or 2027, being open lets us get more out of life. It makes the world a more interesting place. And it makes every story worth listening to.”
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