On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken (1841–1893) purchased ‘De Hooiberg’ (‘The Haystack’) brewery in Amsterdam, which would become the Heineken brewery. In 1875, Heineken won the Medaille D’Or at the International Maritime Exposition in Paris and became the biggest beer exporter from the Netherlands to France. After Prohibition was lifted in 1933, Heineken became the frst European beer to be imported to the United States. Since then, Heineken has grown to become the third largest brewer in the world, owning more than 165 breweries in more than 70 countries. Heineken produces more than 180 million hectolitres of beer annually.

Almost directly after its foundation, Heineken deployed an active marketing and sales strategy. Premium quality has always been one of the core features of Heineken. Given the poor general hygiene in the mid-1800s, Gerard Adriaan Heineken pledged to clients that he would supply them with a clean and safe product. This provided him and his new company with its frst peak of growth. Marketing became exceptionally important when Freddy Heineken took control of the company. After learning the trades of marketing and sales in the United States, Freddy Heineken returned to the Netherlands. In the late 1940s, Heineken set up a ‘publicity department’ to persuade consumers to drink Heineken beer. Freddy Heineken understood that marketing had to be simple and consistent. He introduced well-known and short slogans and started updating Heineken’s packaging to be more in tune with the company’s vision.

While Heineken had become a global company, it had not become a global brand. In the 1980s and 1990s, local trademarks were available in many markets, and Heineken’s positioning as a premium lager required further support. In many places in the world, beer was still considered a bestial product, and wine was considered too ‘decent’. To support Heineken’s global positioning, interest was devoted to using James Bond as an advertising platform. Based on the novels of Ian Fleming, James Bond movies started to be produced regularly, starting with Dr. No in 1962. This represented the start of the most successful series of movies in history and attracted the attention of advertisers. Although marketing effectiveness is exceptionally hard to measure, companies are increasingly defned by their reputation. This, combined with a strong brand, differentiates companies in the eyes of the public. For Heineken, James Bond offered a global advertising platform reaching the desired target groups: cosmopolitan males who could identify with James Bond. James Bond is synonymous with high-quality goods, which underlines Heineken’s reputation as a premium lager. Heineken is a logical partner for James Bond since the character James Bond enjoys the occasional alcoholic beverage, although this was generally a vodka martini, famously ‘shaken, not stirred’. Brand cohesiveness between Heineken and James Bond was less obvious and posed a risk in the partnership between James Bond and Heineken.

The partnership between Heineken and James Bond dates back to 1997, when Heineken participated in the movie Tomorrow Never Dies. In this movie, James Bond uses a truck loaded with Heineken crates as a ramp to get his bike back on street level. Heineken commercials have been produced in which John Cleese participates as Q, receiving a phone call through a Heineken bottle. Heineken was again involved in the movie The World Is Not Enough. This was the company’s frst global campaign, and it introduced the slogan ‘not everything should be shaken or stirred’. Satisfed with the results, Heineken has participated in all subsequent Bond movies, although it wasn’t until 2012 that James Bond himself enjoyed a Heineken, in the movie Skyfall, causing disturbance with James Bond purists who argued that the stylish character of James Bond could not be combined with ‘ordinary lager’.

However, the risks of limited brand cohesiveness were effectively managed by Heineken.

Using a keen marketing strategy, the movie Skyfall coincided with the London Olympics of 2012, of which Heineken was the offcial lager supplier. Heineken sales reportedly increased by 5.3 per cent.

The production of the James Bond flm Spectre required a budget of US$350 million.

To fnance the flm, reliance on sponsorship was crucial. According to the flm’s star, Daniel Craig, ‘the simple fact is that without them [advertisers], we couldn’t do it’. Heineken’s partnership with Spectre implied an investment of US$167 million. The vast majority of this amount was a countertrade in joint promotion: Heineken does not pay the flm producers but invests in movie marketing, which translates into free publicity for the flm makers.

For Heineken, the Spectre campaign was the brand’s largest global marketing platform of 2015. Part of this campaign involved James Bond again enjoying a Heineken in the flm itself. Next, Heineken was allowed exclusive rights to using Daniel Craig in a commercial.

For its digital Spectre campaign, Heineken took the world’s frst ever selfe from space. For the ‘Spyfe’, Heineken partnered with Urthecast to take ultra-HD imagery using its camera on the Deimos satellite, which was orbiting 600 kilometres above the Earth’s surface.

Via a relay of technology, Heineken created a selfe for attendees who had been recruited from around the world. The Spyfe content was customized for each attendee of the topsecret experiential event, sending the material directly to their mobile devices for use on social media. Heineken also allowed Bond fans to get exclusive access to Spectre content through the estimated half a billion bottles bearing the Spectre logo that were sold around the world. By scanning the Heineken logo, fans could unlock content with Daniel Craig and behind-the-scenes footage. The Heineken ‘limited editions’ all had James Bond–style packaging. However, product placement and co-branding arrangements in flms are not without risks. Audiences are increasingly sceptical about such strategies. Research suggests that when product placement becomes too prominent, it affects attitudes negatively because viewers become aware of a deliberate selling attempt. Product placement can also lower audiences’ evaluations of the focal entertainment product (the flm or the show).

Active management of the portfolio of partners ensures that brand cohesiveness is guaranteed and the partnership delivers its intended value. With regard to the collaboration between Heineken and James Bond, the introduction of Heineken in the movie Skyfall created a surge of complaints. However, according to Heineken offcials, the campaign was successful. The movie was also highly successful, making US$1.1 billion in ticket sales compared to costs of $200 million. In 2021, the latest James Bond movie was released: No Time to Die. The promotion activities included a commercial featuring Daniel Craig, who slowly pours a glass of Heineken extending the gratifcation of the frst sip. The rationale behind the commercial originated in an experiment, where participants would be offered a Heineken 0.0 (i.e. alcohol free), but were served with time delays varying from 0 to 30 minutes. The results suggested that participants experienced extreme satisfaction after a 20-minute wait.

Questions 1 Explain how the Heineken and James Bond brands reinforce one another positively (e.g. have brand and product ft).
2 Explain what risks this alliance entails for Heineken with regard to negative brand spillovers.
3 Heineken received complaints about this co-branding alliance. Explain why they decided to continue and expand it?