Insight
ZoukOut is not only Asia’s largest end year beach party but the pivotal platform to launch any beer brand into the new year. Brands who pivot it well start the year with a refreshed base of fans, revived sales and brand uplift.
Being a long-time sponsor and with competition getting more intense each year, Heineken needed a refresh to create an impact among party-goers amid all the clutter especially in the digital and social space as well as at the festival itself.
Starcom Media's challenge was to turn a simple sponsorship into a larger participation platform that was truly valuable to the brand and memorable for festival-goers. The agency was challenged to break the norm and outdo itself. It needed to deliver the best party experience and reward fans with new, exciting moments physically and socially.
The focus was on party-goers – millennials aged 18-34, who were music aficionados and “Experience Seekers” who enjoy new & exciting experiences.
They live in constant social interruption and are connected on social media channels constantly to stay in touch with what their friends are doing and share their own photos/videos. They are also often out and about socialising or hanging out with their friends. Countdown to the day of the event inevitably occurs among their personal and social connection channels. They are mature individuals who party responsibly and are always looking out for their mates. During the festival, both physical and digital experiences coming to life are instrumental to their overall music journey.
Strategy
To create a one-of-a-kind experience, Starcom Media hinged on two powerful insights:
1. Planning prior is often more intense than the actual partying: Weeks before, festival-goers would gather their own crews - coordinating and developing a party ritual with social media being an amplification channel to show-and-tell their preparations, shout-outs, etc.
2. At the party, crews that stay together last the night longer: To get the most of their experience, they party as a group to help pace each other to last from dusk till dawn, creating an emotional sense of belonging.
The strategy was to harness the pre-party camaraderie and anticipation by creating a party-before-the-party and enable festival-goers to amplify their fun further by staying and experiencing the night together.
The core idea: #PARTYASONE – Leave No Man Behind.
Enabling “Experience Seekers” and their crew to party as one, to make the most of their extraordinary party experience.
This was brought to life through 3 things:
1. Keeping party-goers engaged with the brand throughout by inviting them to form own crews, utilising #PartyAsOne for amplification with on-ground engagements.
2. Rewarding party-goers who came together, with an ultimate reward for the strongest crew who stayed together throughout.
3. Becoming the main highlight at the festival by delivering a never-before experience: Encapsulating the faces of party crews onto a 3D-face projection in front of Heineken’s iconic tent - a necessary pit stop for any party-goer.
THROUGH THE LINE CAMPAIGN (MEDIA CHANNELS):
• Social: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Influencers
• Digital:
- Content Amplification Platforms - Outbrain
- Video Amplification Platforms - YouTube, Programmatic Video, Snakk Media
- Others - AsiaOne News Rotator
• Print: JUICE and SG Mag advertorials (adapted online).
Execution
Heineken powered up Singapore’s largest dance music festival, championing the notion of #PartyAsOne through three phases:
Pre-Party: Seed content to introduce the idea of #PartyAsOne and tips on maximising party experiences through advertorials on key lifestyle sites and social media. Social conversations started as festival-goers started to pledge how they would #PartyAsOne. The agency selected key social influencers based on their clout in the party/music scene to bring out the notion, engaging their followers to be part of the experience.
At the Party: The 3D-face projection took centre stage as revelers came together to immortalise their comradeship via a special photo booth at the tent. The crews’ faces were combined – forming one composite face & projected “live”. This breath-taking personalised visual spectacle captured so much attention and truly made Heineken stand out among all the sponsors. To live up to #PartyAsOne and capture the best we-fies through the night, crews had to watch out for one another with an ultimate reward awaiting the best crew. An Instagram contest was ongoing throughout both nights with the two strongest crews rewarded with a W Hotel stay. This rewarding experience was amplified on social media.
Post-Event: Party-goers had their ZoukOut moments captured through a 15-second video of the face projections – a memento that became shareable content. Not forgetting to throwback to #PartyAsOne, party-goers shared their memorable moments and amazing party experience because they partied as one. The agency amplified key moments by posting a post-event album on social media and seeded a highlights video for party-goers to relive their experience.
Results
Through all paid, owned and earned media, it managed to hit a total reach of 39.16 million. It has also managed to achieve close to 26 million in reach numbers from 43 pieces of media coverage worth over $250,000 in PR value.
The on-ground activation saw active participation amongst party-goers interacting with the giant 3D face and utilising the hashtag. There were close to 1,000 posts with #PartyAsOne, >4,750 giveaways being redeemed. Active consumer engagement with 884 images taken and 270 bespoke consumer video projected resulting in a total reach of 1,474,332 as well as > 2,000 polaroid pictures taken.
The post-event video garnered >1.8 million views (exceeding the KPI by 181%). Overall, Heineken reached out to more than 1.3 million individuals on multiple social platforms combined.
Brand equity scores maintained as GOOD at 7.6 as well as Authority at 51, Approval at 55 and Closeness at 46.
The event also received positive post-event feedback, exceeding top 2As stretch target of 85% with response as such:
• How likely are you to visit the next Heineken event: 100% very likely to visit
• Will you tell your friends about your experience at the Heineken tent at ZoukOut: 98.7% would tell their friends.