Heineken is all about socializing. It's the brand's DNA. When we wanted to create a campaign to talk to gaming fans, we found out that there is a false stereotype: gamers are antisocial. And even gamers themselves believe this is due to the spread of this narrative. The truth is that gaming is also a social environment where millions of people meet and have fun. Just like a bar. That's why we needed to change the negative perspective of gamers and show the power of games as a place for socializing.

Socialization has always taken place in bars. But if games are also a social place, there's one thing missing: real beer. That's why Heineken transformed boring in-game ads into 2,720 new bars online. With a simple click, gamers were redirected to iFood, a delivery app where they gained a free Heineken while playing. And to cap it off, we teamed up with Valorant, one of the most popular games in the world, and turned their map scenario into a real bar in real life.

Our strategy was to create a unique experience for gamers, blending the virtual and real worlds. The main strategy was to break the ‘gamers are antisocial and solitary’ stereotype, showing games are just another place to have fun. And like every other social space, we wanted people to have a good time with a good beer.

To do so, an important decision in our approach was to reach gamers on the right platform. According to 2023 PGB, the latest report on Brazilian gamers' behavior, 51.7% of gamers prefer to play on smartphones, so our creative idea was developed on different mobile games.

No gamer likes to see ads when they’re playing. So Heineken turned ads no one notices into bars serving beer that everyone wants. By hacking a simple and boring ad media, we opened bars across the most popular games in the world and brought real beer to fans. And to commemorate their hours playing, we built a Valorant thematic bar in real life, where gamers could play, have a beer, and enjoy playing together.

In a country where almost 60% of bars are sponsored by its biggest competitor, Heineken found in games a new market territory, opening 2,720 virtual bars in just one day and attracting a new generation of consumers. Game Bars also proved that the problem wasn't the pop-up ads but rather what they offered. That's because with simple banners, Heineken served 50,000 beers only in the first week of the project, twice the average of a new Brazilian bar. As a result, Heineken established games as a social place, bringing the only thing that was missing: real beer.