Heineken: #Lebigswim

Credits & Description:

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather London
Brand: Heineken
Country: United Kingdom
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather London
Entrant Company: Ogilvy & Mather London
Media Agency: Starcom Mediavest Group, London
Pr Agency: Starcom Mediavest Group, London
Production Company: Stink, London
Dop: Jan Velicky (Freelance)
Art Director: Miguel Nunes (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Producer: Nick Landon (Stink)
Planner/Csu Director: Tara Austin (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Business Director: Harriet Harrison (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Brand Director, Mainstream Beers Heineken: Ifeoma Dozie (Heineken)
Director: Ivan Zacharias (Stink)
Agency Producer: Ruth Darsow (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Associate Creative Director: Simon Lotze (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Editor: Filip Malasek (Ten Three)
Global Executive Creative Director, Gbm: Gerry Human (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Copywriter: Simon Lotze (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Art Director: Jordan Down (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Account Manager: Joseph Grigg (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Agency Producer: Nicholas Akinnibosun (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Copywriter: Will Marsden (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Associate Creative Director: Miguel Nunes (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Chief Innovation Officer: Mark Lainas (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Sound Engineer: Pavel Rejholec (Soundsquare)
Creative Technologist: Paul Fraser (Ogilvy & Mather London)
Execution:
Our campaign consisted of four main films, supported by a number of content films and regular static updates, including custom content responding to individual consumers. All content was posted on Kronenbourg 1664’s Facebook, Twitter and Youtube accounts in stages from 2 July 2015 until 6 August 2015. While we promoted films and content with paid-for advertising on these channels, the majority of views and interactions was not paid for – both on our channels and organically, via the press.
Campaign Description:
We found the one French export most Britons adore: former Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona. Then we got him to go on social media and issue a challenge: if 10 000 Britons agreed that Kronenbourg is the best-tasting beer in the world, he’d swim the English Channel from France to Britain to salute their great taste.As we created conversations, interaction and excitement online, we released more videos and content building up to the big event.Finally, on 6 August 2015, Cantona swam to Britain. But we’d saved the big reveal for last: he swam in true footballer style – in a swimming pool on a super yacht, to the surprise and delight of the whole country.
Synopsis:
Kronenbourg 1664 faces stiff competition in Britain, where it competes with hundreds of other beer brands and where the quality of French beer – or anything French - is sometimes greeted with scepticism. We not only had to unite British beer drinkers behind our French beer on social media – we also wanted to get tens of thousands of them to vocally agree that Kronenbourg 1664 is the best-tasting beer in the world.
Outcome:
# 1 UK social FMCG campaign in 2015 (Nielsen/Headstream) Purchasing increased 14.5% in off-trade compared to the same period in 2014. Earned Reach of 66.3 million. 23 million UK views on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and VOD. More than 125 pieces of press coverage 2.5 million engagements Earned/paid ratio of 6/1 on Facebook and Twitter – 10x above average. Facebook users’ brand recall increased 46% Twitter Promoted Trend: delivered 3x above benchmarkYouTube VTR: 70% above benchmark, Video Completion Rate: 125% above benchmark, VoD CTR: 180% above benchmarkScored 17% higher than the previous TV led campaign on the key equity metric “a great brand for me”, A 9% increase in Kronenbourg 1664 as our audience’s main beer brand A 13% increase in “a brand for those who put taste first”, with 22% stating they wanted to purchase Kronenbourg 1664 (12ppt above category average)
Strategy:
“Le Big Swim” was aimed at an online audience of predominantly UK males, aged 35 and older. On 2 July 2015, we got Eric Cantona to issue a challenge to these British beer drinkers via a film posted on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. This film generated a massive response from our online audience and the press, allowing us to release more films, teasers and content sequentially over several weeks. Once somebody had seen or engaged with our content, they were served more to generate conversation, increase excitement and amplify our message, culminating in our big reveal on 6 August 2015.