Dive Brief:
- Heineken continues to promote in-person connections with the launch of “Could Have Been A Heineken,” a bot on the messaging platform WhatsApp that seeks to combat lengthy voice notes, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- For the effort, WhatsApp users who receive a voice note lasting three minutes or more can exchange them for a voucher for a free beer and recommendations of local bars to meet up with friends in real life.
- The activation is based on research indicating that millions of voice notes are sent every day in place of in-person conversations. The tech was piloted in Brazil, and is currently being supported by out-of-home and social media ads.
Dive Insight:
Heineken is again focusing on the value of IRL conversations for “Could Have Been A Heineken,” a playful activation that reads as the brand putting its own spin on the popular “could have been an email” workplace meme. The effort is informed by Statista research indicating that people send more than 9 billion WhatsApp voice messages every day, up 7% in frequency over 2024. The length of the voice notes has increased by 8% over the same period.
Further, the average person spends almost 150 hours a year sending and receiving voice notes, according to Heineken-commissioned research that polled more than 14,000 individuals. More than half of respondents feel that voice notes are replacing in-person interactions, and 49% said they spend entire evenings sending voice notes to friends rather than meeting in person. Yet, 54% of respondents said their most fulfilling conversations occurred face-to-face.
A video tied to the campaign depicts people leaving and listening to rambling voice messages that seem pointless. As people listen to these messages while also doing various chores and activities, text appears on screen that reads, “But then we ‘don’t have time for a beer,’” before cutting off a series of voice notes with the “Could Have Been a Heineken” message. The campaign was ideated by LePub Milan and São Paulo.
Supporting the effort’s debut in Brazil are OOH and social activations meant to bring the idea to life and root it in local culture, per release details. The pilot location of Brazil was an intentional choice, supported by data indicating that Brazilians send four times as many voice notes than people in any other country. The campaign is expected to expand to other markets in the coming months.
The campaign meshes with Heineken’s overall strategy of encouraging consumers to eschew the digital world for more in-person interactions. Earlier this year, the brand launched a global campaign, “Social off Socials,” that dramatized a world where no one was on social media because they were too busy connecting in real life. That effort included creating an in-person meet-up for New York Knicks player Josh Hart’s Cold Water group chat.
The brand’s efforts have also included technological innovations, including an artificial intelligence-powered phone case that automatically flipped users' phones over — thus hiding distracting alerts — when it heard the word “cheers” and an app that turned smartphones “boring” during in-person social gatherings.
