To launch our client's environmental program, Vive Verde (Live Green), we created the Heineken Green bag. It is a re-usable grocery bag made of non-recyclable discarded material from Heineken billboards. A local micro-enterprise of seamstresses was hired to make our idea possible. While we tackled the damaging plastic bag situation, we gave a better use to our trash and helped a Puerto Rican micro-enterprise. The bags are being promoted and sold on Heinekencity.com, the brand’s website, and at clothing boutiques. They were also featured at the Puerto Rico Fashion Week. The Heineken Green Bags became an instant environmental and fashion statement. It is an on-going project. As long as there are Heineken outdoor advertisements being created, we’ll have material to make more bags.

We recollected and cleaned accumulated material from old Heineken billboards and took them to a local micro-enterprise of seamstresses that crafted the bags for us. From each billboard, we got around 100 bags. We started the program with enough material to produce around 3000. Press releases were sent to fashion and news-related media. To give them an edge, models walked the runway with them during Puerto Rico’s Fashion Week. The bags were sold for $20 on Heinekencity.com, the brand’s website, and at exclusive boutiques. It is an on-going project. As long as there are Heineken outdoor advertisements being created, we’ll have material to make more bags. Part of the sales income was used to pay the seamstresses; the rest was donated to non-profit organizations associated with the cause, making the program self-sustainable.

The Heineken Green Bags not only became an instant environmental and fashion statement, but also addressed the country’s plastic bag problem, gave a better use to our client’s trash and helped a Puerto Rican micro-enterprise that needed a boost to survive. The media covered the story, producing free publicity for the brand.