The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Heineken

  • Heineken renews UEFA Champions League sponsorship

    Heineken has announced the extension of its sponsorship with the UEFA Champions League. The new agreement means that Heineken® the leading international, premium beer brand will continue as an official partner of the world’s most prestigious club football competition up to and including the 2017 / 2018 season.

    Heineken® has been an integral partner of the UEFA Champions League since 2005. The sponsorship allows Heineken® to elevate its global status as the world’s favourite beer.

    Last year, the UEFA Champions League reached a cumulative audience of more than four billion TV viewers in 220 countries and territories, whilst also continuing to support the brand’s growth.

    The Marketing Director Nigerian Breweries Plc, Walter Drenth, in his reaction to the renewal of the contract said, “The UEFA Champions League’s unrivaled international reach and professional standards make it the perfect match for Heineken®. It is one of the brand’s main engagement pillars, and as such we strive to constantly strengthen and broaden our activation through innovative marketing and our global footprint.”

    The contract renewal sees Heineken obtaining the rights to exclusive UEFA Champions League content, such as Back Stadium Tour and UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour, presented by Heineken, which will be available across the brand’s owned social media channels, as well as maintaining the rights as presenting partner for UEFA Champions League Video section on www.uefa.com The deal with UEFA provides fertile ground for Heineken®’s innovative and award winning consumer focused campaigns. It also includes increase in exclusive LED pitch boarding exposure, and the right to promote the association in key retail channels.

    As part of its on-going ‘Road to the Final’ campaign, Heineken has also announced the dates and venues for the successful UEFA Champions League Trophy tour. 2014 represents the brand’s eighth consecutive Trophy Tour with a global itinerary that covers South America, Africa and Asia – giving fans across the world the opportunity to see the Trophy first-hand, meet superstar footballers and to see a fantastic range of UEFA Champions League memorabilia.

    In the detailed programme released yesterday, Buenos Aires, Argentina will be the first point of call between February 27th and March 2nd, followed by Lagos, Nigeria between March 13th to 16th before finally proceeding to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from April 3rd to 6th. More details of the programme will be available across the brand’s owned social media channels. This will be the first time since 2009 that UEFA Champions League followers in Nigeria will have the opportunity to see and get closer to the Trophy presented by Heineken.

    “It as rare privilege to offer our consumers in Nigeria the unique experience and thrill of the UEFA Champions League and the trophy tour presentation in Lagos for four days” said Mr Drenth.

    Senior Brand Manager Heineken, Jacqueline Van Faassen said “The Champions League sponsorship is the largest activation platform for the Heineken brand. In our eight year partnership, research has shown that Heineken® awareness has grown to 60 per cent among UEFA Champions League fans.” “We will continue to enrich fans’ experience of the UEFA Champions League through innovative campaigns encompassing social media, live screening events during the UEFA Champions League knockout phase and Final, retail activations enabling thousands of fans to experience the matches first-hand and of course the UEFA Champions League Trophy tour presented by Heineken® in Nigeria for the second time since 2009.”

    “Heineken® has been an integral partner of the UEFA Champions League since 2005. The exciting matches with eight months of engaging consumers are watched in every country, including Nigeria, where an ice cold Heineken can be enjoyed.

    “This season, Heineken will be giving 10 Nigerian consumers the opportunity to win tickets to the group stage and Final match live in Europe. The brand has partnered with 100 bars pan Nigeria to activate the “Match Your Half Ticket.”

  • Heineken brings back UEFA Champions League excitement to Nigerians

    Heineken brings back UEFA Champions League excitement to Nigerians

    With the draws ceremony of the European Champions’ League concluded in Monaco on August 29th, the international premium lager beer, Heineken, has as usual, concluded arrangements to bring all the excitements of the matches of the 2013/14 season to Nigerian football fans.

    Heineken, a major partner of the world’s most glamorous club competition, UEFA Champions League since 2005/06 season, will bring all the 96 group stage matches to Nigerian homes. The UEFA Champions League is one of the most premium global sport events and Heineken is the most international premium lager brand enjoyed in over 170 countries in the world. The Heineken and UEFA Champions League partnership is therefore a perfect combination. So it makes perfect sense to ensure that passionate football fans in Nigeria enjoy every bit of the exciting action just like we have done in previous seasons.

    “This season, in line with the campaign theme ‘Road to The Final’, Heineken will be running promotions nationwide in selected bars where consumers can win tickets to watch the UEFA Champions League matches live in the country of play as from the knock out stage to Semi-Final stage. In addition to that Heineken will give 5 inventive consumers the opportunity to see the Final Live in Lisbon,” the senior brand manager, Jacqueline van Faassen, remarked during the week.

    Already all the 32 teams, including the defending champions, Bayern Munich of Germany, alongside other power houses in the elite competition including Borussa Dortmund, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid and the host of others are set for battle to determine the qualifiers into the second round knockout stage next February.

    The group stage match fixtures have thrown some exciting rivalries with the power houses in the English Premiership playing against the best in the German Bundesliga. Arsenal and Manchester City will face last year’s finalists, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively. On the other hand, Spanish giants, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are drawn against Italian rivals, AC Milan and Juventus respectively.

    Before this stage of the competition, 88 play-off matches have been played with 10 winners of the ties join 22 automatic entrants in the 32-team group stage. The clubs are split into eight groups of four teams. They will play home and away against each of their pool opponents between September and December to decide which two teams from each section advance to the first knockout round. The third-place finishers in each group enter the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

    Heineken’s sponsorship of the competition has commanded great followership in Nigeria with several football fans passionately support many of the top European clubs, sharing in their triumphs and losses. The awareness of the competition in the country has risen to unassailable heights.

  • Heineken shines at Cannes

    HEINEKEN has reinforced its strong creative credentials, with a total of 17 prestigious awards won at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

    The wins for the company included Heineken®’s first ever Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness(¹) for its ‘Open Your World’ global integrated campaign and a Gold Lion PR for ‘The Candidate’, which was also selected for a Titanium and Integrated Bronze(²) award.

    The ‘Legendary Journey’, part of the ‘Open Your World’ campaign(³), encapsulates Heineken®’s approach to asking its drinkers to live beyond their boundaries, inspiring men across the world to seek new experiences. The campaign was developed in partnership with Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam.

    ‘The Candidate’, created with Publicis Italy and activated by Edelman London, outlined the brand’s creative and unconventional approach to recruitment. It was released earlier this year and rapidly became a global viral and PR sensation, amassing 2.8 million views within seven days and unprecedented global media buzz.

    The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications. At this year’s event, more than 35,000 entries from 92 countries were showcased and judged.

    Heineken®’s investment in design and innovation was also recognised and celebrated. Its futuristic igNITE bottle picked up Silver for its use of Exhibitions or Live Events and Bronze each for its Your Future Bottle and The Wall of Opportunities activations.

    Global Chief Marketing Officer and President Western Europe at Heineken, Alexis Nasard said: “We are delighted by this recognition. Creativity is a decision which entails risks. These awards, and more importantly, consumers’ choice at every consumption opportunity vindicate these decisions. Clients get the creativity they deserve from their agency partners, and we are thus thankful to both our agency partners and our employees for keeping the bar high, and keeping us and our brands part of the conversation.”

    Creative Effectiveness Lions will honour creativity, which has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business – creativity that affects consumer behaviour, brand equity, sales, and where identifiable, profit. It will aim to establish a direct correlation between creativity and effectiveness.

    Titanium and Integrated Lions, the idea is central to the award and everything, whether it is for a car or toothpaste, telecommunications or charity, big budget or low budget is considered. Campaigns cannot be directly entered into the Titanium category, but the jury decide which campaigns should be considered for the award, hence the prestige.

     

  • Heineken shines at Cannes

    HEINEKEN has reinforced its strong creative credentials, with a total of 17 prestigious awards won at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

    The wins for the company included Heineken®’s first ever Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness (¹) for its ‘Open Your World’ global integrated campaign and a Gold Lion PR for ‘The Candidate’, which was also selected for a Titanium and Integrated Bronze (²) award.

    The ‘Legendary Journey’, part of the ‘Open Your World’ campaign (³), encapsulates Heineken®’s approach to asking its drinkers to live beyond their boundaries, inspiring men across the world to seek new experiences. The campaign was developed in partnership with Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam.

    ‘The Candidate’, created with Publicis Italy and activated by Edelman London, outlined the brand’s creative and unconventional approach to recruitment. It was released earlier this year and rapidly became a global viral and PR sensation, amassing 2.8 million views within seven days and unprecedented global media buzz.

    The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications. At this year’s event, more than 35,000 entries from 92 countries were showcased and judged.

    Heineken®’s investment in design and innovation was also recognised and celebrated. Its futuristic igNITE bottle picked up Silver for its use of Exhibitions or Live Events and Bronze each for its Your Future Bottle and The Wall of Opportunities activations.

    Global Chief Marketing Officer and President Western Europe at Heineken, Alexis Nasard said: “We are delighted by this recognition. Creativity is a decision which entails risks. These awards, and more importantly, consumers’ choice at every consumption opportunity vindicate these decisions. Clients get the creativity they deserve from their agency partners, and we are thus thankful to both our agency partners and our employees for keeping the bar high, and keeping us and our brands part of the conversation.”

     Creative Effectiveness Lions will honour creativity, which has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business – creativity that affects consumer behaviour, brand equity, sales, and where identifiable, profit. It will aim to establish a direct correlation between creativity and effectiveness.

    Titanium and Integrated Lions, the idea is central to the award and everything, whether it is for a car or toothpaste, telecommunications or charity, big budget or low budget is considered. Campaigns cannot be directly entered into the Titanium category, but the jury decide which campaigns should be considered for the award, hence the prestige.

  • HEINEKEN sponsors five Nigerians to UEFA Champions final

    HEINEKEN sponsors five Nigerians to UEFA Champions final

    As the much anticipated UEFA Champions League Final holds on May 25, HEINEKEN, will sponsor five Nigerians to the UCL Final in Wembley, London

    Those to be sponsored are Diana Nwajiaku-Smart, Isaac Onochie Ijeh, Mayowa Opeyemi George, Franklin Chukwu Ijeh and Felix Amobichukwu Nwafor .

    Through their inventiveness, ingenuity and resourcefulness these five Nigerians were able to win the HEINEKEN RACE TO THE FINAL CHALLENGE and an all-expense paid trip to watch the Final live at the Wembley stadium in London. The lucky winners proved to be exceptionally intelligent using their intellectual as well as the physical ability to outsmart 300 other participants in the HEINEKEN RACE TO THE FINAL CHALLENGE.

    Saturday the 13th of April, began with 300+ HEINEKEN fans and UCL Final hopefuls gathering at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu for the RACE TO THE FINAL CHALLENGE. Contestants were expected to cleverly solve 4 riddles to decode 4 ‘secret’ locations and race against the clock to visit all locations and complete the journey, with only the first five contestants to arrive at the Heineken Champions Planet winning the tickets to Wembley.

    Through the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, contestants received a new riddle every time they clocked-in at a location. With the RFID technology, contestants’ clues were posted on their Facebook walls for their friends to help them when they were stuck. What started out as a keen competition with every man for himself turned out be a team effort with strangers working together as friends to solve riddles in order to progress in the race. The riddles led contestants to strategic locations around Lagos: Golden Tulip Hotel, Festac, Rhapsody’s, Ikeja City Mall, Sailor’s Lounge, Lekki and finally the Heineken Champions Planet, Victoria Island where the winners were celebrated.

    The RACE TO THE FINAL CHALLENGE was tied to the recently unveiled HEINEKEN® UCL campaign called ‘Road to the Final’ with the launch of a television commercial titled “The Final”. In the commercial you get to see how, with imagination and resourcefulness, one man was able to race against the clock to witness club football’s most prestigious event – the Final itself live. He had to overcome many hurdles on his way from South America to London in just 24 hours. He proves to be a true Man of the World. And he got inspired by the inventiveness displayed by the great players in the UCL. The journey to the Final is filled with legendary adventures and stories. How he gets to the Final is as much fun as being at the Final.

    “Taking a cue from the TV commercial, we created obstacles for contestants in the form of riddles and asked them to be inventive in solving the riddles then hit the road to the next destination where only the first five that arrive at the Heineken Champions Planet automatically win the 5 tickets to Wembley. The race should be great fun and an adventure in itself” said Jacqueline Van Faassen, Senior brand Manager, HEINEKEN

    The mechanics of the challenge was designed not only to choose winners, but to bring out the real “Man of the World” in every participant in relation to the premium brand. It was also to demonstrate that Nigerians can display legendary acts through inventiveness and imagination by bringing out the can-do spirit in them and sportsmanship. Compared to a transparent draw in previous years, this year’s selection put every consumer’s destiny in their own hands.

    The “Road to the Final” brings together Nigeria’s best in sports reporting like Colin Udoh, Charles Anazodo, Timi Okomi and Biola Kazeem, and legendary ex-internationals like Jay Jay Okocha, Daniel Amokachi and Peter Rufai amongst others who have visited the Heineken Champions Planet at different stages of the competition.

    On the Road to the Final, HEINEKEN encourages fans to watch ‘The Final” TV advert on Heineken.com and to engage with the brand through a series of unique activities. Modern trade stores will sell special edition Heineken UEFA Champions League cans and special edition UEFA Champions League Magnum packs. In April and May, promotions will be running to offer a gift with purchase of the special UCL packs. In addition, HEINEKEN has adopted 75 UCL viewing bars around the country where promotions are being held and consumers can win spectacular UCL prizes including an invitation to the Heineken Champions Planet in Lagos.

    As the ‘Road to The Final’ reaches its climax, HEINEKEN will equally invite fans to the semi-final and the final VIP viewing events that will host over 250 fans from across Nigeria every match night to experience a premium football viewing experience at the Heineken Champions Planet, Victoria Island, Lagos. For a chance to see the final in a uniquely HEINEKEN way at the Heineken Champions Planet, consumers sign up on-line via a Heineken quiz on Facebook or log on to Heineken.com.

    One of the winners Diana Nwajiaku- Smart, commended HEINEKEN for the opportunity not just to participate in the RACE TO THE FINAL to win a ticket to the Wembley final, but also encouraging the true spirit of sportsmanship, respect and friendship. “The prize is beyond a ticket to the final, it also includes the opportunity to meet Heineken and UCL fans from around the world, take a tour of London and attend super premium parties organized by HEINEKEN, and of course the UEFA Champions League Final match being the highlight of the trip”.

  • Which ‘Road to the Final’ Would You Take?

    Which ‘Road to the Final’ Would You Take?

    Heineken® invites football fans to use their imagination in a race to get a seat at the UEFA Champions League Final in Wembley

    Lagos, 2nd of April, 2013 – As some of the best football teams in the world battle it out in the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champions League, Heineken® has unveiled the latest element of its ‘Road to the Final’ campaign with the launch of a new ad campaign. The ad demonstrates how, with imagination and resourcefulness, one man is able to witness club football’s most prestigious event – the Final itself.

    Premiering today in more than 170 countries, the ad is the latest element of the brand’s global integrated ‘Road to The Final’ campaign as it celebrates its seventh consecutive year sponsoring the UEFA Champions League.

    The ad features one lucky fan, who receives a ticket to the UEFA Champions League Final. The only problem is that he is on the other side of the world and faces a race against the clock to get to the match. Through a combination of resourcefulness, imagination and inventiveness he manages to overcome every obstacle put in his way – to be rewarded with the ultimate football experience – a pitch side seat at Wembley, arriving just before kick-off.

    In line with the new campaign, Heineken® will be rewarding Nigerian fans for displaying inspiring and imaginative behaviour by offering tickets to the UEFA Champions League Final in Wembley, London. Heineken® invites open minded Nigerian UCL fans to take part in a race to win 5 tickets to UEFA Champions League Final in Wembley, London on an all-expense paid trip. 350 fans will be invited for this once in a lifetime race from the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos on the 13th of April, 2013, where only the first five contestants to complete the race will win the tickets to the Final. On their journey they need to solve riddles to overcome obstacles and complete the race. Entries for the race start on the 3rd of April and close on the 10th of April. To register consumers need to go to the Heineken website, www.Heineken.com or on facebook at www.facebook.com/Heineken.

    Throughout the ‘Road to the Final’ campaign, Heineken® is encouraging fans to engage with the brand through a series of unique activities from on shelf in modern stores to in-bar and social media, offering incredible once-in-a-lifetime prizes.

    The brand’s Facebook fans can play a pinball game featuring elements of the advert. Players can compete against each other – and Heineken ambassadors including Clarence Seedorf – to earn bragging rights and UEFA Champions League prizes. For the Semi-Finals, eager fans will have the chance to engage with Seedorf through Twitter – with the most resourceful receiving prizes for their imaginative responses to Heineken’s task.

    As the ‘Road to The Final’ campaign reaches its climax, Heineken® will once again invite fans to the Final VIP viewing event will host over 250 fans from across Nigeria to experience a premium football viewing experience at the Heineken Champions Planet , Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Jacqueline Van Faassen, Heineken Senior Brand Manager, commented on today’s announcement: “We are delighted to launch the next stage of the ‘The Road to The Final’ campaign with this new TVC. Our fans are intelligent, quick witted and worldly people so we’ve worked hard to craft a campaign that they will enjoy being part of.

    For this we are truly excited to organise the race to the final for the first time so we can reward the biggest Heineken® fans in Nigeria with an all-expense paid trip to the UEFA Champions League Final in Wembley, London.

    We want consumers to watch the advert on youtube.com/Heineken, engage with the brand by playing the digital game, Tweet Clarence Seedorf and come to Heineken® events. If they do, they might even get the chance to see the Final in a uniquely Heineken® way whether it’s in Wembley via the race to the final event or at the Heineken Champions Planet, Lagos via Heineken quiz and in-bar.”

    This week , J.J Okocha will be visiting the Heineken Champions Planet to interact with consumers during the match to make the viewing experience more exciting.The fun and excitement of this UCL season is not limited to the Heineken Champions Planet because video episodes of visitors experience will be broadcast across the nation on major TV stations. Live reports from the Heineken Champions Planet are also available on Nigeria Info Live radio commentaries and twitter at Heineken_NG. Heineken consumers in Nigeria can be part of the exclusive experience by visiting any selected Heineken world class bars or taking part in the quizzes on Heineken face book page.

    http://bit.ly/HNK_UCL2013_Final