Alcohol advertising – including on our massive US$335M/year outdoor media – is illegal in Malaysia. Making it tough for Heineken to stand out against established local favourites during Chinese New Year.

We turned outdoor ad restrictions into an opportunity, cropping our logo to complete Chinese New Year greetings (where 'Hei' means happiness in Cantonese). Turning our delivery trucks into the only legally compliant outdoor ads for a beer brand in Malaysia, which was 163% more effective than average outdoor media buys. With our cheeky, culturally resonant approach, what started outdoors sparked conversations online, driving extensive reach, media interest and impact.

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic Southeast Asian country with a Muslim-majority population. While alcohol sales to the non-Muslim minority is permitted, it’s strictly regulated by law. For instance, depicting and promoting alcohol products and brands on above-the-line media channels including print, television as well as the nation’s massive US$335M yearly out-of-home channel are strictly prohibited and punishable by up to US$10,500 in fines and imprisonment. Even alcohol brands’ delivery trucks cannot be branded with logos. All of which effectively makes Malaysia an advertising dark market.

This makes it particularly tough for a foreign beer brand like Heineken going up against local favourites like Tiger Beer and Anchor. Particularly during Chinese New Year, which is annually and widely celebrated by ethnic Chinese Malaysians. A key part of the celebrations are reunion feasts with family and friends, which contribute to it being the biggest single season for alcohol consumption in the country, and therefore the most competitive sales period for alcohol brands.

As we sought inspiration from local culture to help us stand out, we noticed that several key Chinese New Year greetings that are a part of the significant greetings exchange tradition contained the phrase “Hei”, or happiness in Cantonese, such as “Hup Ka Foon Hei” (wishing your family happiness) and “Gong Hei Fatt Choi” (wishing you happiness and prosperity). Of course, one cannot spell Heineken without those same three letters.

Chinese New Year is the biggest and most important season for alcohol sales in Malaysia. As a beer brand that’s perceived to be more foreign with a premium price-point, Heineken needed to build relevancy and visibility during this crucial season while going up against local favourites like Anchor and Tiger Beer, which have already localised and associated themselves with this occasion over the past several decades.

To make matters worse: Malaysia is an advertising dark market. Showing alcohol brand logos and products on above-the-line media could lead to fines and jail time, which means Heineken couldn’t even be a part of Malaysia’s massive US$335M/year out-of-home advertising scene. We needed to find a way to be seen and talked about despite these laws to ultimately drive sales, without going to jail, of course.

We cropped our iconic logo to complete Chinese New Year greetings on 11 existing Heineken delivery trucks over 49 days. These technically unbranded, totally legal billboards-in-disguise made Heineken the only beer brand to advertise outdoors as the trucks travelled 36,465 kilometres on their scheduled delivery routes throughout the country. Soon, what started outdoors went online and across the news as people spotted Heineken “Heidden in Plain Sight”, with people even turning Heineken cans into their own Chinese New Year greetings on social media.

These led to 33.9 million reach (in a population of 34.5 million), US$6.8 million earned media, 163% more effectiveness than the average paid out-of-home media buy and 14% more sales volume vs Chinese New Year 2023. All with zero media spend and zero changes to logistic operations thanks to us simply reskinning existing delivery trucks. More importantly, zero arrests.

The exchange of auspicious greetings is a key Chinese New Year tradition. Several of these greetings have something in common: the word “Hei”, which means happiness in Cantonese. Of course, one cannot spell Heineken without those same three letters.

So, we designed a campaign that no other beer brand could own. We cropped the iconic Heineken logo, using its first three letters to complete a series of Chinese New Year greetings. We featured them across 11 of our existing delivery trucks as they travelled 36,465 kilometres on existing delivery routes across Malaysia over 49 days, costing us zero media spend.

These trucks became highly visible billboards-in-disguise on their way to bars and supermarkets throughout Malaysia. While instantly recognisable as Heineken, the cropped logos made the trucks technically unbranded and therefore totally legal according Malaysian advertising laws. Ultimately, the campaign cheekily underscored that the celebrations were simply more complete with Heineken.