Beertime Stories

A good story about a great beer

Everyone knows Heineken. As the world's first global beer brand, it is both available, and identical, the world over. Our task was to find a fresh way to tell their story, ‘Born in Amsterdam, raised by the world.’

We quickly discovered that, while everyone knew Heineken, few knew anything about them. When presented with the facts, consumers tended to skip past and go straight for the beer. Our challenge was to make the story of Heineken as interesting as the drink itself.

Spanning nearly a century and a half, Heineken is a story of Dutch history, craft, and hardship. Within it are a wealth of insightful anecdotes that seldom leave the brewery walls, bringing the brand to life better than any person could.

After cataloging dozens of these moments, we chose the best and wrote short, digestible films on each, labelling them according to their content.

Final control was given to users. We let them create their own Heineken story by selecting their favorite Brewing, History, and Product moments. They were then combined into a personalized ‘Beertime Story’ film that spoke about all aspects of the brand.

The modularity of the mechanic encouraged users to come back to hear new stories, was easy to use, and held viewers' attention. It also allowed new stories to be swapped in easily, and facilitated localization — crucial for a global audience.

Individual stories were seeded on Facebook to build interest — and to keep them from remaining hidden from the world. After all, a good story, like a good beer, is something worth sharing.