The Holland Heineken House has become a success – and a bit infamous – because of the way Dutch Olympic victories are celebrated there. By making a three-part long-form documentary series, drawing on a rich history and focusing on real-life experiences, we flipped the image of a party venue on its head. Six gold medalists travel back to the place of their greatest Olympic victory to relive memories and emotions. Their careers culminated with the celebration of their win at the Holland Heineken House, and each episode ends at the original venue, onto which as a surprise images of their younger selves are projected. Furthermore, architects of the House tell of its development and ever-growing role at the Games in the way that sporting success is celebrated. The relevance of the House is shown through unknown personal stories behind well-known Olympic successes, which make emotions resonate with viewers and fans.

With a small documentary crew of four people, we traveled to six countries on five continents. Per Olympic city we shot for three days with an athlete and an architect (entrepreneurial force) of the Holland Heineken House. Each episode features two athletes’ stories. The shoot was without Heineken Marcom presence, because we were allowed to make and shoot our own story.

The end result consisted of three 24-minute episodes, telling six stories. Because of the captivating stories and the overall quality of the series, national television channel SBS6 agreed to broadcast the three-part documentary series without the client paying for it.

It was broadcasted nation-wide on January 21st, 28th, and February 4th. After the broadcast on television, the series was made available on the Dutch online SBS platform.

Averaging one million viewers per 24-minute episode, it was watched because the human stories over overcoming adversity were compelling. Holland for Gold helped to kick start a new way of thinking about the relevance of the Holland Heineken House to athletes and people who love sports. It also showed the unique role that Heineken plays as an entrepreneur in helping to unite all Dutch people through the power of sports. As an unintended outcome, it gave a few of the athletes a new career as media personalities.