SPONSORSHIP
or tickets to the inaugural Heineken®
Ibiza Final viewing event. "We flew
1,200 guests, including consumers and
business partners, from over 60 countries
to London to see the Final live, while 250
lucky consumers from over AO markets
watched the UCL Final at our Ibiza Final
event. As this coincided with Ibiza's club
opening parties, our guests could enjoy
watching the world's greatest 'club football
closing' event before going on to enjoy
the world's greatest 'club opening' parties
- accompanied by Manchester United
legend Rio Ferdinand and renowned
international DJ Paul van Dyk.
"The whole campaign was Heineken®'s
biggest UCL investment ever, and it was a
great success," says Tim. "We had over 90
markets activating UCL locally."
Italy used a red seat that toured the
country, with two tickets to the final
attached underneath. "Consumers saw
the seat, and some even sat on it, but
only those who had been following our
activities online and on Facebook could
work out where the tickets were," says Tim.
"In Mexico, we ran an activity called
'Decision', in which we asked fans what
they'd give up to go to the UCL, giving
them only a few hours to get time off
work, inform their partners and family, and
get on a plane to London."
The Asia Pacific Region produced content
called 'The Negotiation', in which a man
of the world had to convince his girlfriend
to agree to buy football stadium seats for
their home. If she agreed, he won the trip
of a lifetime to the UCL Final at Wembley.
In Malaysia, tickets for the inaugural
Ibiza Final were used as an incentive.
Fans had to race to a beach and use their
inventiveness to locate where in the sand
they were hidden.
Final' TVC had reached 32 million by kick
off time on the night of the final between
Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund,
further underlining 2013 as the biggest
UCL season for Heineken® to date.
Seedorf also took over the Heineken®
Twitter feed during the Semi-Finals,
interacting with the consumers and giving
his own unique insight into the matches.
Future Goals
Last year saw the highest scores ever in
terms of Heineken® brand awareness,
image, bonding and usage. 2013's
integrated campaign results are expected
to be even higher. Tim points out that,
"while we get great visibility via the UCL
games, we've proved that the results grow
exponentially when the sponsorship is
activated locally. For next season, we're
looking to further develop up our below-
the-line activity for on- and off-trade, and
to extend the digital conversation with
exciting and engaging content." Watch
this space...
Driving Benefits for Customers
The UCL sponsorship deal provided plenty
of opportunity to support our customers.
In the run-up to the Final, markets were
encouraged to run code redemption
promotions to drive volume in both the
on- and off-trade. A special-edition UCL
'Trophy' bottle label was also created to
ensure extra visibility on the shelves.
In April and May, Heineken® held a 'Green
Month'. "We had an exclusive trade
agreement with eight major European
retailers including Auchan, Tesco
Carrefour, under the terms of which
Heineken® had prominent, engaging
displays in over 7,800 outlets," explains
Tim. "This enabled us to bring our
message to life, draw consumers into
the stores, and encourage them to
interact with the campaign."
A Social Sponsorship
A number of new digital and social
media initiatives were developed to
engage consumers. Alongside 'Star
Player' a new digital game, called quite
simply 'The Game', was launched this
season. Based on the classic game
of pinball, it gave consumers the
opportunity to try and beat footballers
such as Clarence Seedorf, and of course
to boast about it on Facebook. The
Game was positioned at the end of the
online version of our 'Road to the Final'
ad, and has been played by more than
6 million people. Online views of 'The
The limited edition UCL
can design ensures
high on-shelf visibility
10 World of HEINEKEN Edition 2 2013
