According to Heineken, the media landscape is evolving and it is inevitable that experts in their respective fields need to partner with each other. This is so that their campaigns have the best outcomes and talks to every touchpoint of the customer journey on a personal level, by tapping into location-based technology and the likes.

Heineken says that an example of integration was showcased at the AMASA Awards 2019 with the winners of the Roger Garlick Award — Dentsu Redstar and Vicinity Media — for the Heineken 'When you Drive Never Drink' campaign.

Neil Clarence, chief operating officer at Vicinity Media, says, "The use of location-based mobile technology allows brands to get closer to their audience in two ways. Firstly, based on their actual physical location and secondly, based on the very personal nature of our relationships with our phones. They're our guides to the physical world around us and thus have a degree of trust most traditional media can't replicate."

According to Heineken, drunk driving is an issue in South Africa. Being an alcohol brand, Heineken aims to achieve:
  • showing a level of respect for non-drinkers 
  • enabling drinkers to enjoy a drinking night out responsibly and
  • enabling this kind responsibility for its consumers
  • getting into the hearts and minds of the consumer
The brand says that in order to achieve this, it is key that it gets up close and personal with the target audience. The challenge, however, is that 87% of drivers in South Africa have driven under the influence of alcohol and it is the norm to even just have one beer before driving.

The brand aimed to change this mindset. Waze has established itself as more than just a maps application; increasingly, Waze has been utilised to identify and avoid metro police roadblocks after leaving outlets associated with drinking. This enabling behaviour gave the brand an opportunity to cause a disrupt.

To intercept key moments, Heineken would send a 'When you Drive never Drink' message on Waze. The brand focussed on the three key moments, including:
  1. When users searched for a drinking venue
  2. When users were in close proximity to a drinking venue
  3. When users were leaving a drinking venue
Users searching for these outlets were made aware of the dangers of drinking and driving even before navigating to the outlet. Zero-based takeovers were also activated as soon as users came within the proximity of an outlet. The takeover reinforced the campaign message and offered the user an Uber voucher as an alternative to driving.

Additionally, arrows were utilised to target users that were potentially leaving key outlets in the late afternoons and evenings. When opening the app to navigate their way home, users could engage with the arrow and were sent the campiagn message, which offered an alternative to driving.

During the 33-day duration, the Waze campaign delivered over three million impressions of the Heineken campaign message in receptive moments. 9 800 educated navigations were achieved during the period and 100% of the Uber vouchers were downloaded.

"By targeting drivers at locations where Heineken is consumed — or as they were about to potentially drink and drive — and critically offering them an alternative, we were able to change behaviour and potentially save lives," says Clarence.

"The combination of true location targeting, our reliance on our phones to help us navigate home safely and the ability to then directly integrate with Uber made this idea work. Hats off to Vicinity Media sales director Darren van der Schyff and client Cuan Bergman, who drove this idea home, and in doing so, drove 3 000+ South Africans home safely," concludes Clarence.

For more information, visit www.heinekensouthafrica.co.za. You can also follow Heineken South Africa on Facebook or on Twitter.