1,000 people have been directly involved. 6 million people followed the event live on TV. Other 10 million people saw it on the news the days after. Millions of people spoke about it and commented positively about this communication activity on websites and blogs worldwide. The buzz on it was very high and contributed to empowering the brand awareness and, even more, the closeness between the target and the brand.

The same evening of the Real Madrid vs. Milan match we brought 1,000 AC Milan fans to a fake event mixing poetry and classical music.

The event’s communication was absolutely reliable and we used different channels to catch our consumers: a one-to-one communication (helped by 200 accomplices), invitation cards, poster campaign, direct mail to recruit other victims and remind of the event, very wide PR activities that involved journalist and famous sporting people both as victims and accomplices.The night of the event, after 15mins of concert, using a video projection, we unexpectedly surprised our victims: the brand revealed the trap giving a consistent message (“How could you ever have thought of missing the match? Are you still with us?”) and let the audience join the match on a big screen, offered by Heineken. The concert has been also broadcast live on Sky sport channel.

Our main beer consumers (young adults aged 18-24) are getting older and now duties and responsibilities put at risk their sacred beer moments with friends. Heineken needed to show a special empathy and closeness to its target, reminding them of the importance of preserving their moments with friends, capitalising on the most sacred one: watching the football match.

Heineken is the beer brand that preserves the easy going spirit of its target and celebrates the pure entertainment. We wanted to engage our target into a unique experience that could have been relevant for the consumers and consistent with the brand image. That’s why we took advantage of the UEFA Champions League sponsorship and choose a Champions League match as the perfect occasion to catch our target in a funny trap. We persuaded them to do something that Heineken would never let its target do: skip the match and go to a classical concert.