THE UNWASTED BEER
HEINEKEN

When we couldn’t serve beer, we served the planet.

10% of all global greenhouse emissions come from food and drink waste. Lockdown made matters much worse. With bars being forced to remain shut, bar owners were facing the prospect of pouring millions of pints of beer down the drain. This would have a devastating impact on the environment. Instead of letting the beer go to waste, Heineken reversed their entire business model. They bought back 333,000 kegs (16.5 million litres of lockdown beer) from bars that had closed across different markets and The Unwasted Beer was transformed into a range of sustainable solutions, which were then served to communities globally: fertiliser, animal feed, biogas, heat, water, electricity. Heineken turned lockdown beer that was going to waste into a global sustainability programme.

AWARDS

Cannes Lions 2022:

Brand Experience & Activation: Brand-owned experience - Silver Lion

Creative Strategy: CSR - Silver Lion

Creative B2B: CSR - Bronze Lion

Outdoor: CSR - Bronze Lion

 Brand Experience & Activation: Market Disruption – Shortlisted

Creative Strategy: Brand strategy – Shortlisted

Creative Strategy: Food & Drink – Shortlisted

Creative B2B: Market Disruption – Shortlisted

Creative Business Transformation: Operational Transformation – Shortlisted

Sustainable Development Goals: Responsible Consumption and Production - Shortlisted

D&AD 2023:

Impact/Local Solution - Graphite Pencil

Eurobest 2022:

Creative Business Transformation - Grand Prix

Brand Experience and Activation - Silver

Outdoor - Bronze

Clios 2022:

Creative Business Transformation - Bronze

London International Awards (LIA):

Transformative Business Impact Sustainability - Bronze

Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards:

Winner - Drink Category

ICAD 2023:

Creative Innovation - Gold

Earned Media Campaign - Bronze

CREDITS

PUBLICIS ITALY/LE PUB

Global Chief Creative Officer Publicis WW: Bruno Bertelli 

Chief Creative Officer: Cristiana Boccassini

Chief Creative Officer: Mihnea Gheorghiu

Global Creative Director: Eoin Sherry

Strategy Director: James Moore

Global Account Director: Gonzalo Gutierrez

PUBLICIS IRELAND

Board Creative Director: Ger Roe

Senior Copywriter: Peter Dobbyn

Head of Production: Niamh Skelly

Senior Producer: Claire Boylan

Editor/Motion Graphics: Cormac O’Connor

Senior Account Director: David Carter

Director: Ger Roe, Peter Dobbyn

 D12FILMS (PRODUCTION COMPANY)

Producer & Editor: Joe Rigby

Offline Editor: Stephen Mogerly

Director of Photography: Luke Duggan

Motion Graphics: Rory Fitzgerald 

 FOLDING WAVES (SOUND DESIGN)

​​Composer & Sound designer: Damien Moloney

Composer & Sound designer: Simon Bird

 PHOTOGRAPHY

Leo Byrne

 RETOUCHING

Michael Medvedi