Building on Heineken’s brand line: “Open Your World”, we made it our goal to open up Rugby World Cup 2015 to fans across the globe. Creating a campaign designed to bring both casual fans and die-hard fanatics closer to the action whether they’re watching at home or pitch-side at Twickenham Stadium.

Armed with a legendary line-up of global rugby players including Will Carling, Jonah Lomu and Matt Dawson, we shared the anticipation and surprises in the build up to kick-off and gave fans the chance to win VIP match-day and Coin Toss experiences.

Each week during the tournament we created, produced and posted content in real-time on Twitter from the purpose-built Heineken Rugby Studio at Twickenham, where Rugby Legends and celebrity guests took part in challenges, took fans behind the scenes, shared the game with live Twitter Q&As and reacted to the drama with real-time Twitter commentary.

Heineken’s “Find the Coin” competition offered fans a chance to participate in the pre-match coin toss. It launched on Twitter with the Legends challenging fans to find UK coins from iconic years of their World Cup careers. The first winner was announced at Heineken’s Rugby World Cup launch party at Somerset House, setting the stage for further coin challenges and generating even more social buzz.

Next we unveiled The Heineken Rugby Studio at Twickenham stadium. Here we filmed live content that brought fans closer to the game with an entertaining second-screen experience, and a unique Rugby World Cup website, giving fans a hub for the latest news and content.

Each week we were joined by a line up of celebrities, who helped bring our content to an even wider audience. At kick-off, fans got to experience the game alongside our Legends thanks to our live Twitter Q&A and real-time commentary.

Find The Coin reached 1.7m fans on Twitter and brought thousands of rugby fans closer to Heineken before the tournament, generating 203,000 unique social interactions. (1/2)

Our captivating second-screen experience elevated Heineken above the crowd of sponsors – resulting in 85 million paid and earned impressions across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Display. (3)

Heineken enhanced the tournament experience and connected with fans emotionally. They spent a total of 1.9 million minutes watching Heineken videos across Twitter, Facebook and YouTube – and generated 247,440 unique visits to Heineken’s Rugby Hub over the campaign. (4/5)

In the build up and throughout the tournament fans talked positively about Heineken and its Rugby World Cup experience – generating more brand mentions on Twitter than any other sponsor. (6)

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. (7/8)

With just 1% of viewing fans able to get tickets to the game, we had to focus our efforts on the 99% watching from home. We also needed our content to appeal to armchair fans as well as the fanatics amongst an audience of 21-35 year olds.

We used Twitter as our main platform as it’s the hub of conversation on match day both before and during the game. Here we featured our timely, snackable content, commentary and live Q&As. Then, after the game, we posted longer-form highlights on Facebook and YouTube that drove awareness of the Heineken Rugby Studio strengthening our audience for the following week.

Heineken has built strong ties with the Rugby World Cup, but this time things were different. The Rugby World Cup had exploded in popularity with attendance levels second only to the football World Cup, while attracting ever larger sponsors including Emirates, Mastercard and Coca Cola - all keen for a piece of the action. We knew we couldn’t win on budget alone.

Heineken’s ambition was to become the number one recall sponsor, upping the ante for Rugby World Cup 2015 by securing pouring rights at stadiums and exclusive sponsorship of the iconic pre-match coin toss.

The deal gave Heineken unmistakable presence in the stadiums, but Heineken needed to engage a far wider audience. Outside the stadium walls the competition was even tougher with hundreds of brands fighting for attention. To achieve its goal, Heineken needed to cut through the noise and connect with fans throughout the whole tournament.