10658: Heineken Not Very Heroic.

Advertising Age reported that Heineken is catching heat for not exiting Russia as promised after the Russia-Ukraine war erupted. Gee, Ant-Man can escape the Quantum Realm but not the former Soviet Union?

16013: Heineken Hearts Hip Hop.

BBH Singapore and Leo Burnett Vietnam are among the agencies responsible for this concept-free cartoon campaign for Heineken. There’s an old advertising line attributed to David Ogilvy—which is typically extended—that reads: “When you have nothing to say, sing it. When you have less than nothing to say, let a kid sing it.”

 

Today the line should read: “When you have nothing to say, sing it. When you have less than nothing to say, let a hip-hop artist rap it.”

 

14870: The Worst Ads Of The Decade Expose The Worst Hypocrisy Of The Ad Industry.

Business Insider presented “The worst ads of the decade,” calling out 15 advertisements that broke down as follows: 8 with race- and/or ethnicity-based cluelessness, 4 with sex- and/or gender-based cluelessness and 3 with general cluelessness. The results kinda underscore the outrageousness of White women crying discrimination in the advertising industry, especially considering that White women have been co-conspirators with White men in maintaining the underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in the field—and in the campaigns.

And a special shout-out to Brad Jakeman for making the Business Insider list via the Pepsi-Kendall Jenner video. The “honor” is another example of the outrageous hypocrisy so prevalent in the industry.

14089: No Chance For Heineken.

Advertising Age reported Chance the Rapper was offered a Global Brand Ambassador-Creative Director position with Heineken—and the artist graciously declined, bucking the trend of Black recording artists landing advertising roles.

“I think some companies are purposely hiring Black artists so they can get more street cred. And that shit is racist/bogus, so I guess I shouldn’t help by playing along,” tweeted the rapper. “But I gotta just say tho. Heineken is terribly racist omg.”

Heineken responded to the rejection quickly, offering the same position to MC Hammer, although for considerably less money.

Meanwhile, White advertising agency Publicis has pledged to continue looking for Blacks to hire too.

14086: Heineken Hooey.

Advertising Age wondered, “How did this happen? Behind Heineken Light’s ‘lighter is better’ ad mistake.” Does anyone really need to ask the question? As MultiCultClassics noted, Heineken has executed questionable moves in the past, involving the actual work and the ways the work has been assigned. And its White advertising agencies have even worse records of cultural cluelessness. When ignorant brands partner with ignorant agencies, the ignorance is magnified. Of course, idiots like Brad Jakeman will blame “vocal minorities” such as Chance the Rapper. Meanwhile, the responsible advertising agency is the “non-vocal majority” that dodges accountability. Advertising Age opined the scenario showed “the inherent danger when brands try to import work into the U.S. from abroad.” Okay, but it appears that the responsible advertising agency is part of a global network—and these holding companies sell themselves to clients as being most qualified to handle global messages. Chance the Rapper originally stated, “I think some companies are purposely putting out [noticeably] racist ads so they can get more views.” Sadly, some companies are putting out racist ads because they—and their “global” advertising agencies—have limited views of the world.

14082: Sometimes Whiter Is Not Better.

Advertising Age reported Chance the Rapper labeled the new Heineken Light campaign as racist. Heineken responded by stating, “For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there’s more that unites us than divides us. While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer—we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns.” Okay, but Heineken does have a history of questionable treatment of minorities, exclusive account reviews, patronizing pontificating and culturally clueless lust. And White advertising agencies have an even longer history of excreting biased bullshit. So it’s hard to believe the latest fuck-up happened by chance.

Chance the Rapper calls Heineken Light’s ‘sometimes lighter is better’ ads racist

By E.J. Schultz

Heineken Light is on the defensive over new ads that use the tagline “sometimes lighter is better,” after they were deemed racist by Chance the Rapper.

In a message on Twitter, where he has more than 7 million followers, the artist held up one of the ads as an example of how, in his view, marketers sometimes don’t mind getting called racist:

The provocative accusation drew a range of responses, with some people siding with him and others calling it a reach. But Heineken quickly realized that it was in some trouble, and sought to get ahead of any backlash with a statement.

“For decades, Heineken has developed diverse marketing that shows there’s more that unites us than divides us,” Heineken USA stated. “While we feel the ad is referencing our Heineken Light beer—we missed the mark, are taking the feedback to heart and will use this to influence future campaigns.”

Heineken USA did not immediately respond to a question asking whether the ads would be pulled.

One of the ads, which has been airing on TV for several days, shows a bartender sliding a Heineken Light down a bar to a woman who appears dissatisfied with her glass of wine. The beer passes several dark-skinned bargoers before reaching the woman, who has lighter skin than some of the other patrons. Despite Heineken’s best intentions, the juxtaposition of the tagline and casting choices are perplexing, especially in an environment in which other brands have been called out for lacking cultural sensitivity.

Chance the Rapper later clarified that he was not calling for a boycott and that he simply wanted to bring attention to the issue.

Heineken Light posted three versions of the ads to its YouTube page two days ago. All of them seek to position Heineken Light against competing cocktails and wines. The broader strategy follows other beer brands that have gotten more aggressive targeting wine and spirits, which have eaten into beer’s market share.

13661: Heineken Hypocrisy.

Campaign reported on the latest example of White advertising agencies feigning cultural competence and inclusive enlightenment via hypocritical propaganda. In this case, Publicis London produced “Worlds Apart” for Heineken, depicting seemingly opposite-minded people discussing their differences over a beer. This campaign is heavy-handed in its symbolism and stereotyping—and the product placement is downright pathetic. If Publicis London really wants to create a breakthrough execution, film a bar-side chat between Maurice Lévy and John Wren.

Heineken bids to heal cultural divides in social experiment

Heineken has launched a campaign, “Open your world”, that promotes the virtues of sitting down with someone to discuss your differences over a beer.

By Simon Gwynn

A new film, “Worlds apart”, created by Publicis London, brings together three pairs of people divided by their identity and beliefs. Not initially realising why they have been teamed up, each duo follows instructions to build a bar and share a beer, before the truth about them is revealed on video.

The film was directed by Toby Dye through RSA. The media agency is Mediavest Spark.

Heineken is partnering with non-profit organisation The Human Library in an effort to enact the message of the film in real life. The Human Library is a collection of “books” — each of which is actually a person, with an extraordinary background — which can be “loaned on” for a conversation, debate and chance to find common ground. The partnership will take place at a series of events across the UK, including Wilderness Festival, in Oxfordshire in August.

The brand is also supporting a new study, led by Goldsmiths University behaviour expert Dr Chris Brauer, into the “Science of common ground” — while Heineken’s UK business will be holding “Mix it up” sessions, designed to encourage its staff to spend time with people in the company they have not met before.

And there will also be a Facebook chatbot, designed to connect “unexpectedly like-minded people” to each other, based on a short series of questions about the user’s passions.

Cindy Tervoort, head of marketing at Heineken, said: “Joining forces with 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.”

12743: Heineken Embraces Creativity…?

Campaign published a story titled, “Why Heineken embraces creativity”—then contradicted the piece with another report indicating Heineken dumped Wieden + Kennedy in favor of Publicis Worldwide as its White lead creative agency. The folks at Heineken must be drinking something much more potent than Heineken.

11195: Heineken Voyages To New Areas.

The Voyage from Heineken travels in a slightly different direction than the last two spots in the campaign. Whereas the others featured heroes hooking up with exotic beauties in China and around the world, the latest commercial presents the main character in India. But there’s no overt sexuality here—and the guy is actually respectful towards the local ladies. Is Heineken showing sensitivity to the disturbing rape problem in the country? Hell, the man’s closest relationships are with a goat and elephant. Plus, he seems far more interested in Heineken than hotties.

11041: Heineken’s Global Booty Calls.

This new Heineken commercial features plenty of racial, cultural and sexual stereotypes. Do the non-White women seem more sexually aggressive than the pursued hottie from New York City?

10811: Heineken Heaves Hispanics.

Advertising Age reported Heineken is shifting its Latino creative advertising duties from The Vidal Partnership to Wieden + Kennedy. To clarify, TVP is a Latino agency and W+K is a White agency. Now, it’s not unprecedented for the minorities to lose their crumbs to the White guys—in fact, it’s becoming a common crime. Culprits like General Motors and Burger King immediately come to mind. There are also the White shops that prop up Latino wings to commandeer the overall marketing budget. Think of The Richards Group and its minority unit, Richards/Lerma, who teamed up to create racist talking vaginas for Summer’s Eve. Incidentally, TVP lost its Home Depot business to The Richards Group and Richards/Lerma in 2010. It seems as if for every Walmart promising to increase its multicultural marketing, there are a dozen brands engaging in Shifty Segregation® or complete abandonment of their minority partners. Heineken VP-marketing Colin Westcott-Pitt provided the following excuse for his company’s move:

“There’s a shift in what consumers are interested in what they believe in and value in life. It trumps where they happen to be from or what their ethnic group is. [Wieden & Kennedy] displayed that they can effectively understand the target consumer for Heineken—demographic elements and behavioral and psychographic elements as well. … We have a great relationship with them from a global and local perspective. To be able to consolidate all creative needs into one agency at that level of quality was very important to us.”

Of course, Westcott-Pitt did not elaborate on the mythical shift, although the statement bears similarities to the cross-cultural mumbo jumbo spouted by executive liars including Mark LaNeve, Mike Kappitt and Susan Docherty. Oh, and ADCOLOR® Award Winner Dan Wieden went from declaring, “Now that’s fucked up” to fucking the Latino agency. It’s just a typical—and stereotypical—day in the advertising industry.

Heineken Agency Shift to Affect PR, Hispanic and Creative Roster

Heineken, Amstel PR Moves to Edelman While Hispanic Is Consolidated at Wieden & Kennedy

By Alexandra Bruell, EJ Schultz

Heineken USA has shifted brand PR duties for its Heineken and Amstel brands to Edelman from Publicis Groupe’s MSLGroup, while consolidating Hispanic advertising with Wieden & Kennedy, which already handles general-market creative duties for the brand.

The importer has also picked Zambezi as the creative agency for Strongbow, a hard-cider brand from the U.K. for which it will assume U.S. distribution rights beginning in January. Strongbow, one of the largest cider brands in the U.S., is owned by Heineken USA’s global parent company, Heineken NV, but had been distributed in the states by Vermont Cider Co.

The move follows Edelman’s win over the summer of Dos Equis and corporate PR. Now, in addition to the new Heineken and Amstel brand accounts, Edelman will also assume Hispanic PR duties for the Heineken brand. The marketer cited Edelman’s creativity on the Dos Equis account, on which it has worked for six months.

We had a fairly complex agency structure,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, VP-marketing for Heineken. “For us, it’s really about forming deeper, stronger relationships with a number of partners.”

An MSLGroup spokesman said, “MSL New York is very proud of our work across the six-year partnership on Heineken, Heineken Light and Amstel Light. We wish the Heineken portfolio of brands continued success as they move forward in the marketplace.”

This move comes on the heels of the resignation of former MSLGroup North American President Jim Tsokanos. Renee Wilson succeeded Mr. Tsokanos in September.

Hispanic creative and PR duties for brand Heineken had been handled by Vidal Partnership. The importer is moving the work—above-the-line Hispanic, including Spanish language and Hispanic creative—from a niche agency to a more general market agency such as Wieden & Kennedy to account for a shift from demographic targeting to psychographic targeting, according to Mr. Westcott-Pitt.

“There’s a shift in what consumers are interested in what they believe in and value in life. It trumps where they happen to be from or what their ethnic group is,” he said. “[Wieden & Kennedy] displayed that they can effectively understand the target consumer for Heineken—demographic elements and behavioral and psychographic elements as well.”

“We have a great relationship with them from a global and local perspective,” Mr. Westcott-Pitt added. “To be able to consolidate all creative needs into one agency at that level of quality was very important to us.”

The Strongbow assignment is a significant win for Zambezi, a small shop based in Venice Beach, Calif. Cider is one of the fastest-growing segments in the alcohol category. Heineken USA is expected to pour significant resources behind Strongbow, naming it one of its top three priorities for 2013, behind its Heineken and Dos Equis brands. The importer said it plans to differentiate Strongbow from other ciders on the market.

“Zambezi’s responsibilities will include strategic and creative development to support further brand growth in the U.S.,” said Matt Kahn, VP-marketing for Heineken USA portfolio brands.

Heineken USA spent $126 million on measured media in 2011 across its brands, which include Heineken and Heineken Light, Dos Equis, Amstel, Tecate and Newcastle, according to Kantar Media.

10549: Heineken Hearts Hispanics.

From The New York Times…

In a Sponsored TV Show, ‘H’ Is for Hispanic … and Heineken

By Stuart Elliott

A cable channel devoted to Hispanic viewers is scheduled to present a special show on Saturday evening that offers another example — this time with a Spanish accent — of the popular marketing trend of branded entertainment.

Branded entertainment involves embedding products in program content to avoid the fate of traditional commercials, which can be zapped or zipped through by viewers as they try to avoid paid pitches. In the show on Saturday night, as is increasingly the case with branded entertainment projects, the selling is done discreetly rather than in your face.

The special, which will be shown on the Discovery en Español channel at 10 p.m. on Saturday, is the documentary-style “Gen H,” for “generation Hispanic.” The program looks at the lives of three young Hispanic people — a chef, a rock musician and a gallery owner — trying to achieve success in the United States.

The “H,” as it turns out, also alludes to the involvement of Heineken, the beer brand that is sponsoring the show. But the sponsorship is presented in a low-key way.

For instance, Heineken is acknowledged at the end of the program, with a title card, but not at the beginning; there will be commercials for Heineken during the show, but there will also be spots for other advertisers.

While Heineken bottles turn up in various scenes of the show — at the chef’s restaurant; the rocker’s concerts; and the gallery owner’s art shows — the appearances are nowhere near as blatant as they were in earlier versions of branded entertainment efforts like “The Restaurant” on NBC.

“We as a brand don’t want to be overly intrusive,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, vice president of marketing for the Heineken brand at Heineken USA.

The program is “a showcase for the three subjects,” he said, rather than for Heineken.

Although Heineken has “done quite a few things” in the realm of branded entertainment, Mr. Westcott-Pitt said, “this is the strongest and deepest” involvement that the brand has had in a program. “In the future, you will see us do a lot more in this space.”

More information about “Gen H” can be found on a section of the cable channel’s Web site. The show is being presented as part of the programming on Discovery en Español for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Making sure a branded entertainment program does not turn off viewers with overt placements is “hard, but not difficult,” said Enrique Montoya, vice president of Discovery Solutions at Discovery Networks Latin America and U.S. Hispanic in Miami, which is part of Discovery Communications.

“It requires a lot of energy to see one of these through,” Mr. Montoya said, but it is worth the effort because Discovery executives “want to do more” such shows, and “advertisers want to do more and agencies want to do more.”

“Gen H” was created for Heineken by Discovery en Español as part of efforts for advertisers that make “a certain level of investment” in the channel, Mr. Montoya said, meaning those that buy a certain level of commercial time. (He declined to discuss specific amounts.)

“They reach that level and we enter into content production,” he added, “either a new production or something that’s already in the works.”

9815: BHM 2012—Heineken.

Heineken presents the annual Black History art contest—and so far, the Facebook page shows zero entrants.

9276: Hai-Yah Heineken.

Not sure what motivated The Date from Heineken. White guy visits foreign land where all the women are exotic—especially his Asian hottie girlfriend—while the men are bizarre club singers and grinning cooks. Nice.