When the entire world was struggling from a staffing crisis, Heineken reframed what Gen Z considered dead end temp jobs into priceless work experience that can further their career. The company fundamentally changed how it operates by implementing a new hiring policy to hire people with Bar Experience and by creating a program that 25 more companies joined, that eventually inspired the Dutch government to create a fund to support the hospitality sector.

After the 2020 pandemic that led bars to close down, a new major issue has now afflicted bars all over the world: major lack of staff. As a result, the whole industry went from not having enough customers to not being able to serve customers. That’s why Heineken has decided to once again support the bar industry, this time on the staffing crisis. Without bars, Heineken would lose a major distribution channel and beer consumption occasion.

The staff crisis was higher in the Netherlands than in other parts of the world. According to the Labor Market Monitor for the Hospitality Sector 2022, once the country started getting back to post covid normality, the need for hospitality staff surged. Between October 2021 and March 2022, the vacancy rate in the hospitality industry doubled to reach 112 vacancies per thousand employee jobs - a number never before exceeding 100 for any industry in The Netherlands. For that same period, the number of vacancies also grew fastest (49%) when compared to other Dutch industries. As of such, the staff crisis was a very pressing issue in the Netherlands and received plenty of attention from our audience.

With more than 100,000 people leaving the industry since 2021 (Volkskrant), the Horeca industry has been confronted with unprecedented staff shortages, leading establishments to reduce their capacity or, in some cases, closing down. And since Heineken depends on bars: when bars struggle, Heineken struggles too.

So once again, the brand decided to stand by our HoReCa partners and act to help them find staff by reframing the way young people saw bar work.

Younger generations don’t find working in a bar appealing. According to GWI, GenZ is twice as career-focused as any generation before them. In other words: they don’t see bar work as a valuable experience for their career.

That's why Heineken launched, 'Bar Experience', an initiative to help bars find staff, by showing young adults that bar work should not be overlooked, because it’s a great opportunity to master lots of important skills that such as: team management, verbal communication, logistics, customer service, sales, constructive criticism, active listening and more.In other words: if you want to work at Heineken or any other big company, work in a bar.

There's no experience like bar experience. The idea was brought to life through an on-trade platform and an integrated campaign in collaboration with 25 other large companies that depend directly or indirectly on the hospitality industry. First, show how working in bars is good for their careers. Then, the commitment: Heineken will consider bar experience as an important skill in the hiring process. Simply put, if you want to work at the Heineken company, start working in a bar. The Heineken Company is one of the most attractive employers in Europe. So it had the power and the credibility to turn bar jobs into the kick-start of a bigger career, to help bars overcome staff shortage.

We reached 90% of the target (18-24 y.o) with the campaign.

5000 applications for bar jobs in the Netherlands on the platform in just the first 2 weeks of the campaign.

Click through rate was 225% vs benchmark for social media ads and 100% vs benchmark on Snapchat. Strong increase in the NPS (Net Promoter Score metric) after the campaign (+ 8.7)

Since the campaign, job ads include a request for previous bar experience, especially for entry roles. 25 major companies joined the program and updated their hiring process for corporate jobs (Coca Cola, Burger King, Starbucks, Pepsico, Febo, Lipton, Mc Donalds, Hms, Fuzetea, Käfer and more). 120 employees were already hired with bar experience.The campaign inspired the Dutch government create a fund to support the Hospitality sector.

The HoReCa’s trust in Heineken grew 13.9% since 2020. 12.4% more bars chose to stock Heineken.