Smartphones have taken over our attention entirely. They are in every pocket, and unfortunately, at every social gathering. People spend on average 3h50m on smartphones per day, but with their smooth functionalities and interesting apps, how could we not? On the other hand, there’s a growing trend of digital detoxing, from artists asking people not to use their smartphones in concerts, and even Gen-Z adopting alternative ways to socialize. How could we make Heineken more relevant for these same consumers without disrupting their lifestyle, creating a fresher and more connected world through the power of socialization? The communications objectives? To improve brand affinity, achieve buzz, positive social sentiment and earned PR to get Gen-Z and Gen-Y consumers to choose Heineken.

The Boring Phone: designed to help people discover there is more to their social life when there is less on their phone. Leaning into the trend of digital detoxing, it takes things back to basics with no access to the internet, social media or other apps. You simply call, text and play a quick game of snake. Heineken partnered with fashion curator Bodega and 90s phone produced HMD (Nokia) to design the limited drop of dumb phones that reflected the rise of Newtro style and Y2K design. The Boring Phone reinterprets a past cultural icon that some younger Zillennials may not have experienced before. It was positioned as not only a must have iconic item but sparked a wider conversation on whether having a boring phone improves offline connections. Launched at MDW to drive hype before a PR campaign ignited attention across the world, the campaign captured the cultural zeitgeist.

Riffing off the cultural problem that smartphone distraction is making us more passive in ‘quality socialising’ - while recognising that technology’s not the problem (it’s actually too good) the PR strategy aimed to disrupt autopilot behaviour to make The Boring Phone unmissable, relevant and desired. Keeping the ‘Zillennial’ target audience in mind, partnerships with credible third parties (including Bodega and global DJ/producer TSHA) were brokered to show that Heineken got Gen-Z perspectives and demonstrate you can get more out of your social life when you dumb down your tech. To land in global culture and drive demand, a deep dive research piece into Zillennial attitudes to smartphones that added to – not repeated - the existing conversation was conducted. This delivered a fresh point-of-view that media hadn’t yet covered and set up the launch of the phone as part of the solution to better nights out.

Global hype, fashion, tastemaker, music, culture, lifestyle, tech and design press were sent campaign assets and product mailers on the day of launch. Outreach leveraged our credible external voices (Bodega and HMD) via interview time to deliver richer features in relevant verticals. Milan Design Week was utilized a fitting ‘drop’ hook and a moment to disrupt autopilot behaviour. Global media and content creators were invited to an offline launch party to experience what a night out without smartphones was like first hand, with the event opened up to consumers the day after. Simultaneously, Zillennial content creators were seeded The Boring Phone and encouraged to create organic content in a way that felt authentic to them, weaving the phone into the fabric of their everyday lives. Currently a global playbook Is being developed that will help further key markets launch The Boring Phone with a relevant localised approach.

Just a week after launch, The Boring Phone became the highest reaching Heineken PR campaign to date. Over 2,000 pieces of earned coverage and content generated 7.1bn opportunities to see across online media, broadcast and social platforms including Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. News, tech, culture, broadcast fashion, music, hype – you name it, we secured it. The Boring Phone reached 113 different countries and all four corners of the globe with 100% positive sentiment in press and 97% positive sentiment across social media. Wired called it “cure, transparent and retrolicious”, The Guardian said it was “a phone for the Gen-Z ditching their smartphones and GQ declared it would “revolutionize your life”. Further coverage included Vogue, Highsnobiety, Hypebeast, Culted, The Verge, Techradar, Dezeen, Wallpaper, Forbes and Fast Company. More than 24,000 members of our target audience signed up in the first hour to try to get their hands on The Boring Phone, and registrations for the Milan Design Week offline parties exceeded 15,000 - 21 times the venue’s capacity. And we’re just getting started.