Heineken, world’s most international beer brand, was losing relevance to newer local rivals in major global cities. To get the brand closer to its consumers we designed ‘Cities of the World’ based on the insight that Heineken’s drinkers feared missing out on exciting experiences but were also living routine lives that didn't make the most of their cities. This powerful motivation formed the heart of an integrated campaign that encouraged and enabled men to seek out adventures in their cities. Its centerpiece was a special edition bottle bearing the name of one of 55 major cities. It was launched with a 2 min TVC, enabled by Twitter campaign that encouraged drinkers to think @wherenext on their night out, and underpinned by local activations specific to each city. The campaign brought the brand closer to its consumers, increased volume by 5% over Heineken’s top 10 markets and sold over 1 billion bottles.

First we launched the 2-minute Cities film on TV, cinema and online globally.

Then we turned our iconic bottle into a local one bearing the names of 55 major global cities.

Social media and mobile functioned as a compass, guiding users to discover the hidden gems in their cities with @wherenext, a unique algorithm that used social media activity to guide them to popular nightlife.

And 110+ Heineken markets translated the global strategy to their local markets insights. For instance, in London Starcabs literally drove people out of their comfort zones and green doors in Mexico opened to new experiences.

In 73% of our top 25 markets we increased or maintained brand Closeness.

The Cities TV-spot received over 44million views online and the films that unlocked local cities collected an additional 17m views.

The Cities of the World-campaign grew Heineken's volume by 5% across its top 20 markets.

Overall the campaign accounted for 1/3 of Heineken's volume uplift in 2014.

And over 1 Billion Cities of the World bottles were sold.