Heineken fuelled karaoke reaches millions

Continuing his weekly quest for great marketing ideas, Joss Davidge, managing partner of brand experience agency BEcause, highlights some great recent campaigns.

This week he looks at how Heineken got people singing in the lead up to Christmas.
 
In order to get people talking and support its ‘Open your Celebrations’ Christmas campaign, Heineken laid down the gauntlet for unsuspecting karaoke fans in New York.

The brand invited people to sing in its Carol Karaoke booth and then gave them the chance to let tens of thousands of people enjoy their dulcet tones with a live feed at various locations, including billboards at Times Square and big screens at a NBA basketball game.

It’s a smart integrated campaign from Heineken that used live, outside and online elements to create a disruptive, fun and memorable experience, not only for the singers but also for the public. Encouraging them to think ‘would I?’ while surrounding the intrepid singers with Heineken branding.

 
Heineken has realised the potential of live-to-viral experiences. Over the last few years the brand has created a series of individual ‘challenges’ that not only enable the public to have one-to-one live moments with the brand and its messaging but also convert well for online – extending the reach of each stunt through social sharing and wide-spread online commentary.
 
This video of the Carol Karaoke experience racked up over 4 million views over Christmas and #CarolKaraoke is still proving a popular hashtag as the video continues to be shared into 2014.
 
Here at BEcause we are looking forward to the next instalment from Heineken and to whet the appetite here are a few previous stunts from the brand:

Heineken The Candidate 2013

Departure Roulette 2013

And the Departure Roulette follow up

Champions League Match vs. Classical Concert 2010


Read more from Joss Davidge.