2015 Winners & Shortlists

NEW YEAR'S OF THE WORLD

BrandSIROCCO
Product/ServiceHEINEKEN
EntrantJ. WALTER THOMPSON DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryFast moving consumer goods
Entrant Company J. WALTER THOMPSON DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Advertising Agency J. WALTER THOMPSON DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Brief

Heineken wanted to increase beer sales and elevate brand perception at Zero Gravity, one of the biggest club venues in Dubai, on the biggest night of the year – New Year’s Eve. The problem was that consumers generally switch from beer to spirits like vodka when they hit the club.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We built on a powerful audience insight: as 92% of Dubai’s population are expats, most clubbers have one eye on midnight back home on New Year’s Eve, as well as celebrating at midnight Dubai-time. Our idea was to enable clubbers to celebrate EVERY expat New Year throughout the night. We designed a bar as a giant World Clock. We made an interactive screen, featuring a world map, from Heineken bottles. When midnight hit key expat cities, the display would count down and light up. Then we’d get that New Year’s party started with dancers and Twitter messages using our hashtag.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

33% of clubbers enjoyed a Heineken on the night Volume was up 100% on previous New Year

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

On New Year’s Eve and an expat audience, a bar that delivered a ‘New Years of the World experience’ was 100% relevant to both product and audience.

Credits

Name Company Role
Tristan Fitzgerald JWT Dubai Creative Director
Mahesh Powar JWT Dubai Senior Art Director
Filipa Mauricio JWT Dubai Art Director
Nathalie Gevresse JWT Dubai Head Of Accounts
Jaafar Atwi JWT Dubai Head Of Print Production
Yulia Kurdina JWT Dubai Senior Account Manager
Varun Karani JWT Dubai Account Executive