In Thailand, a huge amount of media expenditure was poured into the
beer category last year, creating vast amounts of clutter.
Brands battled to outdo each other, taking aggressive media stances by
creating primetime TV roadblocks, flooding popular radio programmes,
filling up print titles and moving into event sponsorships in a big
way.
Heineken, in partnership with Starcom Thailand, set out to position
itself to win the hearts and minds of a younger group of consumers with
an unusual media strategy that would, without question, stand out from
the rest of the crowd.
The opportunity presented itself at the EGV Movie Walk in Bangkok, a new
entertainment complex which was popular with youthful, trendy and
urbanised Bangkokians.
Offering seven cinemas as well as food and retail outlets, EGV used a
star motif throughout the theatres, inspiring Heineken's "A Star Among
Stars" concept.
Starcom negotiated with the owners to place the Heineken Star in a
prominent position at the venue, and provide an unparalleled level of
added value.
Included in the deal were:
- Prime display areas;
- Ads running on the Trivision boards;
- TVCs broadcasting on video walls and all internal TV monitors
throughout the shopping complex;
- Sponsored film screenings in EGV Gold Class theatres; and
- Heineken to be the only beer sold at the bars.
The package also provided other marketing and PR opportunities, offering
Heineken a special venue to entertain guests at private screenings.
The show-stopper was the dramatic 3D display created specifically for
EGV, showing HR Geiger's monstrous alien (as seen in the hugely popular
Alien movie series) bursting through the ceiling, grabbing for a bottle
of Heineken fixed to the floor below.
Not only did people stop and stare, but not a day passed in which they
would not also attempt to pick up the bottle.
The Trivision ads were created specially for the venue - two Heineken
bottle caps mimicked a shark's mouth for "Jaws", while a bottle opener
cuddled up to a Heineken recalled Romeo and Juliet.
A major plus - CPM was extraordinarily low at 277 baht (by comparison,
CPM for cinema stood at 1,010 baht then).
The PR generated by the media and creative strategy was huge, and
Heineken successfully caught the attention of the 1.2 million people who
visited EGV Movie Walk every month.
* This National Geographic Showcase series features selected winners and
other entries in the Best Use of Media category in MEDIA's Agency of the
Year Awards 1999.
