UEFA Champions League official beer sponsor Heineken activated in the final host city Milan by blending outdoor and social through a ticket contest called ‘The Final Hashtag’.
Heineken’s marketing team worked in harness with Publicis Italy during the second half of May to place hundreds of billboards around Milan all bearing a very, very long hashtag.
One of the longest Hashtag of the all times. #Heineken Final Hashtag #advertising pic.twitter.com/AQqMMhBtIy
— BSMarketingSociety (@as_bsms) 22 May 2016
The massive 100-character hashtag (which is the most letters allowed by Twitter) translates as:
#WaterBarleyHopsAndHorizontalFermentationAreTheSecretsOfHeinekenSince1873TweetItRight
ToWinTheUCLFinal
The tactic and the objective were equally simple: drive awareness of Heineken’s product quality by using the beer’s recipe itself as an entry ticket for the match.
The approach was equally straightforward: combine a classic, local market OOH ad campaign with a competition call-to-entry via a trendy but simple social media mechanic.
The Final Hashtag is effectively a simple mechanic promoting a straightforward contest: one that uses outdoor ads to encourage consumers to participate socially tweeting to @Heineken_IT using a campaign hashtag to be in with a chance of winning tickets to the final.
The initiative was created for Heineken by a Publicis Milan (Italy) team led by ECDs Bruno Bertelli, Cristiana Boccassini, Luca Cinquepalmi and Marco Venturelli, ACD Alessandro Candito, art director Andrea Raia, copywriter Matteo Gatto, strategic planner James Moore and an account team of Lorenza Montorfano, Maria Elena Gaglianese and Veronica Stellato.
The photographer was Michele Gastl, while post production was run by Studio Ros.
This host city OOH/Social initiative was just one of several ticket giveaway promotions for the final.
Another example, from the UK, was a 5-A-Side selfie competition to win tickets for ‘you and 4 mates’ which could be entered simply by posting the team snap with the #ChampionTheMatch hashtag and then following @Heineken_UK on Twitter and look out for the sponsor’s game day post.
Share a 5-aside team selfie with #ChampionTheMatch for #UCL tickets each next season! T&C: https://t.co/Ar7TThXz4fhttps://t.co/7P1jVU3Uuy
— Heineken UK (@Heineken_UK) 28 May 2016
These were local activation strands supporting the beer brand’s core, global #ChampionTheMatch initiative – which ran through the whole tournament.
For the final it was teased with pre-game promotional assets, including a spots fronted by player endorsers Roberto Carlos,
About to miss the #UCLfinal? Make an extravagant escape and #ChampionTheMatch with @oficial_RC3https://t.co/oSl9OcogC3
— Heineken (@Heineken) May 27, 2016
and Carlos Puyol,
Puyol’s big four. Legendary moves to get the best seats for the game. #ChampionTheMatch #UCLhttps://t.co/F0IiiitQmW
— Heineken (@Heineken) May 11, 2016
and reminders to get the beers chilling in the fridge,
Just enough time for your Heinekens to cool down. Don't forget to stock your fridge! #ChampionTheMatch #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/EW8GeCuILI
— Heineken (@Heineken) May 28, 2016
while the actual live game hosting was handled by CL winning record holder Clarence Seedorf.
Live from the #UCLFinal in Milan. Join Clarence Seedorf at 20:30 CET and #ChampionTheMatch pic.twitter.com/STv2gTbLHC
— Heineken (@Heineken) May 28, 2016
In fact, #ChampionTheMatch achieved engagement so impressive that Heineken even tweeted appreciatively about it’s own success.
Two continents, 9 countries, 9 legendary footballers and over 170M people who watched #ChampionTheMatch. Thank you!https://t.co/YIEuFMHPIN
— Heineken (@Heineken) May 28, 2016
Seedorf also fronted the beer brand’s ‘The Maestro’ spot which rolled out to leverage interest in the quarter finals in April,
while Del Pierro was the star of another April CL spot giving office bound fans ‘five ways to distract your boss and watch the UEFA Champions League’.
Comment
It may be a touch cheesy, but it is nevertheless a fun, light-hearted and simple way to get consumers think about the ingredients in your beer, your product quality and your association with a major event taking place on your doorstep.
The host city strand may have been called the ‘Final Hashtag’, but sadly we are absolutely 100% certain that it won’t be the last of its kind.
This is certainly a neat way to link traditional local event host city outdoor work to a global social initiative.
A fun twist trick and a clever gimmick that drove some solid earned media, but does it quite match up to the true creative excellence of so much of Heineken’s previous Champions League campaigns?
Links
Heineken Twitter:
Heineken YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/heineken
Heineken Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/heineken/
Heineken Web:
Publicis Milan, Italy:
UEFA Champions League:
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/
