Wunderman Thompson Thailand and Heineken Lao re-define the Festive experience with the Heineken Star Festive BBQ

To encourage responsible consumption and staying home, Heineken Lao teamed up with Wunderman Thompson Thailand 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.

Heineken Lao 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.

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, said: “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, said: “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: 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