Heineken Lao teams up with Wunderman Thompson for its new year campaign

Heineken Lao, a leading premium beer brand in Laos has been a strong contender in the Laotian market by constantly giving fresh experiences to Laotians. With Covid still at its peak in Laos, festive year-end celebrations was a toned down and subdued affair. 

To encourage responsible consumption and staying home, Heineken Lao teamed up with Wunderman Thompson to deliver a fresh and safe festive celebration and experience at home called the Heineken Star Festive BBQ. This initiative focuses on still bringing people together responsibly during Covid times whilst driving sales and growth for the brand.  

In Laos, “Mu Kra Tah” or grilled pork is a national culture, a shared grill pan to be enjoyed eating with friends and usually with fresh, tasty beer. With Laotians’ love for grilled food on a pan, their consumption is as frequent as 2-3 times a week especially during Covid. It becomes a gathering of friends and family and peaks during end of the year timing when Laotians gear up for year-end celebrations. 

Facing a huge competition in Laos from Beerlao, Heineken Lao and Wunderman Thompson needed to find a way to own the festive season in a memorable and unique way for Laotions. With the insight and research above, we found that “Mu Kra Tah” is the true symbolic of celebration and with that a new Heineken experience was born. 

The Heineken Star Festive BBQ is a specially created pan by Heineken Lao to give a Star experience when enjoying the grilled food at home. The “Star Grill Pan”, is a Heineken signature star-shaped pan, specially designed to distribute the heat throughout the star pan. The product is designed for 5 persons’ consumption, each person having their own “star” corner to separate grilling, to encourage limiting celebration size in a fun way. The special grilled pan is prepacked with premium imported meat, organic vegetables and of course 1 extra cold Heineken carton, making the experience tastier and more special.  

The campaign was launched nationwide and online on early December 2021 with strong KOL and influencer outreach. Even though on-trade outlets were closed, this campaign overachieved its target goals with sales of over 270k cartons during that period alone. The Star Festive BBQ was sold out and additional 50% more stocks were given away due to positive feedback and participation from consumers. 

Fahmi Rajendra, Marketing Director, Heineken Lao

“Despite the pandemic, our goal has never changed - to stay connected with our consumers, providing them a new refreshing experience through initiatives. Our ambitious challenge was to find a safe way to connect people in a really fun and engaging way. That’s why we unveiled The Heineken Star Festive BBQ to offer our valued local consumers the chance to enjoy “Mu Kra Tah”; whilst enjoying ice-cold Heineken.”

Park Wannasiri, Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman Thompson Thailand 

“For a famous global brand like Heineken we believe this is the way to create meaningful relevancy with the local audience. The Heineken Star Festive BBQ will elevate the Laos’ national culture to the next level, and Heineken is the first brand to proudly share the Mu Kra Tah culture! This is not only a refreshing experience to Laotians, but has proven to drive sales and bring business results as well.”

CREDITS

Client Credits: Heineken Lao Brewery Co., Ltd.

Marketing Director: Fahmi Rajendra

Senior Brand Manager: Duangchai Thamhaksa

Brand Executive: Phonepaseuth Phommasoulin

Brand Executive: Sammar Boonyasang 

Marketing Trainee: Prisa Senduangdeth

Trade Marketing Manager: Vinith Savattry 

Trade Marketing Assistant: Chanpheng Manisone 

Trade Marketing Assistant: Airnoy Sorsaiysumphan

Trade Marketing Assistant: Chansouda Saysanavongsay 

Brand Designer: Phetaloun Atphasouk 

Marketing Trainee: Toulanan Senpaseuth 

Brand Portfolio Manage: Ketmany Phimmathath 

Agency Credits: Wunderman Thompson Thailand

Chief Executive Officer: Maureen Tan 

Chief Creative Officer: Park Wannasiri

Creative Director: Suebthong Thanomsri

Art Director: Naruemon Kongsomthong

Copywriter: Warintorn Patthanakiat

Group Account Director: Wasna Jirasuradej

Account Manager: Pufah Nuntavisit

Agency Production Director: Jiroj Mechoojit

Agency Producer: Jutamas Juntasorn

Planning Director: Puvadon Tarasin

Project Manager: Thanda Panchareon