Live Event: Brew-Ha-Ha
Heineken throws a winning party for the Billboard Latin Music Awards.
Music and beer made a good mix for Heineken and Billboard magazine.
White Plains, NY-based Heineken signed as title sponsor of trade magazine Billboard’s annual Latin Music Awards last spring as a means of extending its two-year-old Heineken en Vivo (Heineken Live) music-driven promotion platform targeted to Hispanic-Americans.
“We’re trying to do more things with the Latin community, and music is a great way to build relevance with the consumer,” says Ken Kunze, Heineken’s marketing director. “Billboard provided us with a great platform to do that and gave us credibility.”
The joint promotion centered on a sweepstakes awarding trips to the awards show in Miami along with a related music conference and show after-party. Sweeps support in 11 cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tampa, FL, and Washington, DC, splashed Heineken’s name in retail stores through 300-plus displays, on radio programs, and in nightclubs. The sweeps ran March 27-May 5.
Consumers entered the sweepstakes off-premise via tearpads and at various on-premise events featuring Latin artists. Prizes included a set of Heineken-branded conga drums, a Billboard compilation CD of the 2000 award winners, jackets, and T-shirts.
Regionally, radio stations added media support through tie-ins with the on-premise events, and relationships with retailers were strengthened with incentives such as tickets to the show and the after-party. Heineken reported the program created excitement throughout the sales force and trade.
At the music conference held in Miami’s Sheraton Biscayne Hotel before the awards ceremony, more than 500 influential attendees were greeted by Heineken en Vivo signage in meeting rooms. A guest lounge set up at the hotel offered opportunities for sampling and a bevy of P-O-P displays. It also served as the welcome area for the sweepstakes winners.
The awards show took place at Miami’s Jackie Gleason Theater and drew a crowd of 2,000. Heineken P-O-P adorned the lobby and a VIP room, and the brand was the featured beer at the venue’s five serving stations. The after-event party let sweeps winners mingle with musicians and industry insiders.
In an overlay with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists dubbed Heineken on Assignment, the brand held an essay contest for college students that gave 12 winners the privilege of reporting live from the show for their local radio stations.
Heineken also sponsored a corresponding charity golf and tennis fundraiser for the Diabetes Research Institute, donating 250 premiums for participants and $5,000 directly to the nonprofit organization.
The Billboard name opened doors for Heineken. “Here was a partner that everyone trusts in the music industry,” says Manolo Vidal, president and ceo of The Vidal Partnership, the New York City agency which handled the campaign. “When you couple that with a premium beer and give consumers a chance to sit in the audience and see their favorite artists, it was a perfect mix of the three things working together.”
Billboard benefited from heightened consumer awareness: It was the first time in eight years that the general public was allowed to attend the awards show. Broadcasts of the April 27 event on Latin cable network Telemundo scored a 4.7 rating — the highest rating of the night against the target audience of Hispanic males 21 to 34.
“It shows we picked the right corridor,” says Vidal. “Our promotion was on target.”
Heineken benefited with commercial spots and billboard ads during the broadcast. An encore presentation of the show on June 17 extended impressions.
“Teaming up with Heineken gave us that consumer edge we didn’t have,” says Billboard sponsorship coordinator Cebele Rodriguez. “Everyone knows the Billboard [recording sales] charts, but it’s not a household name.”
Viva partnership.
Supporting Cast:
Ken Kunze, Heineken
Cebele Rodriguez, Billboard
Manolo Vidal, The Vidal Partnership
