Message
in a Bottle.
For Heineken.
A campaign built on the idea that people say the truest things when nobody knows it is them. An anonymous message chain, carried by the one object everybody in the room is already holding.
The brief.
Leverage a beverage icon as a catalyst for connection. Heineken have spent 150 years bringing people together, and the brief asked how the brand could keep doing that in a world that feels more split than it used to.
Not an advert about Heineken doing good. Heineken used as a tool to spark the connection people actually want. Audience: Gen Z and Millennials.
Where it came from.
Nobody says the real thing
Genuine self expression has been squeezed out by a social media culture that rewards an unrealistic picture of happiness. In a 2020 online consumer panel, 31% of Gen Z reported feeling a need to be perfect.
Anonymity opens people up
Sometimes anonymous expression is the more powerful route to a real connection. A study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found anonymous communication reduced isolation and stress.
Message in a Bottle
Heineken lets Gen Z say the thing without fear of judgement or backlash. An anonymous message chain that encourages people to open up about the insecurities they would never post, and find out how many others carry the same one.
People connect over what they hide, not what they post.
The thought the campaign is built onWhy the bottle.
Every idea in this category ends up asking people to download something. This one starts with an object that is already on the table, already in your hand, and already the reason two strangers are stood next to each other.
The message travels with the bottle. You leave one, you take one. The chain grows on its own because passing it on costs nothing, and by the time you have read three of them you know you were never the only one.
The brand does not turn up as the hero of the story. It turns up as the thing that made the room easier, which is what Heineken has always actually sold.
How it was made.
Written, designed, edited, graded and mixed in house. The work went into the timing and the sound rather than the shot count, because that is what makes a short piece feel like it cost something.
Made as an entry to the D&AD New Blood Awards 2023. It was not commissioned by Heineken.