Heineken has launched a mid-strength, low calorie beer that aims to recruit female drinkers and will be backed by an 18-month gender neutral marketing campaign.
Heineken 3 will be publicly unveiled at a rooftop beach party in Sydney today and tomorrow. The campaign - the Dutch beer giant's largest in Australia - will start out with a heavy experiential, social and PR focus to build talkability before online video and TVCs follow later in spring.
Red Agency will handle the PR and experiential (launch) activations, Zenith will look after media buying and planning, Holler is responsible for digital and Momentum Worldwide will cover on-premise and retail experiential elements.
Tapping into mid-strength market
Heineken's brand strategy aims to tap into the growing demand for premium mid-strength beer in the increasingly health-concious Australian market.
“In this market there is a massive opportunity, the international premium mid-strength segment has grown about 60% in the past year,” Heineken Lion Australia marketing manager Alessandro Manunta tells AdNews.
It is hoped Heineken 3, with only 86% calories per bottle and 3.3% alcohol, will resonate with women (as well as men) looking for an easy drinking, low calorie lager.
“The starting point is the day time drinking occasion and female drinkers are looking for an easy drinking beer that is more palatable. From a market perspective we are also talking to them and male drinkers that it's not just easy drinking, but has lower carbs, which we know is a relevant point for the female audience.
“In our media we are trying to be less male-centric and more gender neutral. Also the venues we are targeting for the product are appealing to male and females. While it's important that it has low calories and low carbs, but the most important angle is it has a great taste.”
The liquid has already won awards at the World Beer Championships as best bower calorie lager and a gold medal at the 2015 European Beer Star Awards.
Australia will be a testing ground for the Heineken 3 brand proposition with potentially other markets to follow.
Having it all
The idea behind having a summer beach rooftop party on a wet day in winter is a nod to the campaign tagline 'have it all'.
“For us that is the starting hook of telling a story behind the product. Heineken 3 is a product that allows you to have it all and this is how we've proved it,” Manunta says.
“This will give us a fantastic opportunity to create more content and a video because everyone (at the launch events) will be drinking Heineken 3. We will promote this across our social media channels.
“This will be backed up by a fantastic outdoor campaign, there will be TVCs that will follow up in October or November through digital, cinema and TV.”
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