'Go ahead, drink and drive' urges Heineken

Looking at the latest experiential campaign by Publicis Singapore for Heineken, Ad Nut's heart was beating fast and the throat began to feel dry, very dry. Parched, in fact. 

Was Ad Nut craving a tall cold one lined up so nicely in the shiny blue beer fridge... with a side mirror to look like a car door... accessed with a car key... placed in a Singapore parkade to tempt drivers as they headed to their vehicles?

Hell no. Ad Nut's panic attack came from the sheer utter stupidity of the idea. Sure, Ad Nut likes to keep a few beers in the trunk—but not in the boot of the car, never mind the driver's seat. What on earth (or in Ad Nut's case, just above it) were they thinking?  

And then it dawned on Ad Nut. We're talking non-alcoholic beer folks. Heineken 0.0. Which you could enjoy while driving, unlike other beer. 

“Heineken 0.0 opens up new drinking occasions," explained Faye Wee, marketing director of Asia-Pacific Breweries Singapore. "And to launch it in Singapore we needed a high impact idea to show beer lovers they can enjoy a beer when they never thought of having one.” 

“The idea was to surprise drivers when they least expected to be offered a beer," added Axel Grimald, executive creative director of Publicis Singapore. "Right before getting in their cars.”

The unique driver beer fridges were placed in parking lots around Singapore's prime locations like Orchard Road and Clarke Quay. They can only be opened with car keys, automatically opening at the frequency car keys send, complete with car alarm sound when unlocked.   

“We could never imagine that a fridge filled with zero-alcohol beer could get this much attention,” Wee said, noting the nine-month campaign helped serve Heineken 0.0 to 350,000 people, garnering 91% awareness, and 59% trial between March and November last year.

Most significantly, their press release adds, "the Driver’s Fridge managed to drive home the message that with the new Heineken 0.0, Now You Can Drink Before Driving."

Ad Nut is always game for a clever campaign, but has to wonder whether that final phrase could be just a little too enabling for those in denial that they've had one too many.

Candy cigarettes were deemed a bad idea mainly for the idea they encouraged. One has to think the same might be applied here, even if it would be nice to have a 0.0 for the road. 

(This article first appeared on CampaignAsia.com)