Heineken wanted to leverage its sponsorship before and during the tournament, and activating the first coin toss meant Heineken was opening the Rugby World Cup, a memorable part of every match.

Heineken wasn’t going to waste the coin toss experience on the usual suspects of senior management. Instead, it gave rugby fans without tickets the chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with the team captains at the coin toss.

Partnering with famous rugby players, Heineken launched its coin toss competition “Find the Coin”, challenging rugby fans to find and share a UK coin with a particular date – representing the year of each players’ most memorable career moments.

To be in with a chance of winning fans would have to be quick to respond and share their coin images with Heineken on Twitter.

Heineken launched “Find the Coin” one month before the start of the tournament, with England rugby legend Will Carling asking fans to find and share a coin minted in 1991, the year he captained England to the Rugby World Cup final. The winner of the first coin toss was announced at Heineken’s Rugby World Cup opening party at Somerset house, and would join the captains of England and Fiji at the coin toss for the tournament’s opening match.

Leading up to the tournament and during the action, Heineken sent out new dates for fans to find each week, with the help of Rugby legends including Jonah Lomu, Scott Quinnell and Matt Dawson.

Thousands rose to the challenge throughout the campaign, hunting down old coins and getting seriously creative with their entries in order to stand out and win.

By leveraging its sponsorship deal and involving armchair fans in a unique way on social, Heineken connected meaningfully and genuinely engaged fans to take part.

“Find The Coin” reached 1.7m fans on Twitter and brought hundreds of thousands of rugby fans closer to Heineken, in total generating 203,000 unique social interactions. (1/2)

“Find The Coin” challenged fans to be resourceful and they committed to it positively. Heineken received over 2,000 unique image entries on Twitter, actively engaging over 30% of its following, and giving a handful of fans a once-in-a-lifetime experience they’d never forget. (3)

Heineken’s success translated to a 19% year-on-year uplift in weekly sales volume, and most importantly, Heineken was voted the no.1 recall sponsor - achieving its tournament ambition. (4/5)