Title	BACK THE BARS
Brand	HEINEKEN
Product/Service	HEINEKEN
Category	D01. Social Video
Entrant	PUBLICIS ITALY Milan, ITALY
Idea Creation	PUBLICIS ITALY Milan, ITALY
Production	STINK FILMS Los Angeles, USA
Post Production	STINK FILMS Los Angeles, USA
Additional Company	PUBLICIS•POKE London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company 2	PUBLICIS BRASIL São Paulo, BRAZIL
Additional Company 3	HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Bruno Bertelli	Publicis Italy	Global Chief Creative Officer Publicis WW
Cristiana Boccassini	Publicis Italy	Chief Creative Officer Publicis Italy
Luissandro Del Gobbo	Publicis Italy	Global Executive Creative Director Publicis Italy
Mihnea Gheorghiu	Publicis Italy	Global Executive Creative Director Publicis Italy
Eoin Sherry	Publicis Italy	Global Creative Director Publicis Italy
Alex Eftimie	Publicis Italy	Art Director Publicis Italy
Austin Campbell	Publicis Italy	Senior Copywriter Publicis Italy
James Moore	Publicis Italy	Global Strategy Director Publicis Italy
Ilko Petkov	Publicis Italy	Data Strategist Publicis Italy
Mariella Maiorano	Publicis Italy	Head TV Production Publicis Italy
David Pagnoni	Publicis Italy	Worldwide Account Director Publicis Italy
Codruta Arbore	Publicis Italy	Account Supervisor Publicis Italy
Derek Muller	Publicis Italy	Sr International Account Manager Publicis Italy
Dave Monk	Publicis Poke	Executive Creative Director Publicis Poke
Colin Byrne	Publicis Poke	Group Creative Director Publicis Poke
Rob Butcher	Publicis Poke	Creative Director Publicis Poke
Tom Genower	Publicis Poke	Creative Director Publicis Poke
Domenico Massareto	Publicis Brazil	Chief Creative Officer Publicis Brazil
Gustavo Victorino	Publicis Brazil	Executive Creative Director Publicis Brazil
Arturo Marenda	Publicis Brazil	Creative Director Publicis Brazil
Andre Leotta	Publicis Brazil	Associate Creative Director Publicis Brazil
Pedro Maneschy	Publicis Brazil	Copywriter Publicis Brazil
Gustavo Vieira	Publicis Brazil	Art Director Publicis Brazil
Joanna Alencar	Publicis Brazil	Business Director Publicis Brazil
Michele Pavao	Publicis Brazil	Producer Publicis Brazil
Tassiana Ferrari	Publicis Brazil	Account Supervisor Publicis Brazil
Renata Sayao	Publicis Brazil	Head of TV Production Publicis Brazil
Juliana Elia	Publicis Brazil	Head of Planning Publicis Brazil
Daniela Altenfelder	Publiciz Brazil	Panning Manager Publiciz Brazil
Ingrid Raszl	STINK	Executive Director STINK
Renata Dumont	STINK	Executive Producer STINK
Carolina Junqueira	STINK	Executive Producer STINK
Tico Cruz	STINK	Executive Producer STINK
Camila Martinez	STINK	Executive Producer STINK
Ana Gazal	STINK	Executive Producer STINK
Marcela Amstalden	STINK	Executive Producer STINK

Background

All around the world, bars were forced to temporarily close due to COVID-19. Worse, COVID-19 threatened to close bars permanently due to bar owners being unable to cover property and maintenance costs. How could we help bars stay on their feet until they could open to public and also make sure Heineken didn’t lose their 40% revenue in the B2B market?

Describe the strategy

“Back The Bars” is a platform that allows people to support their local bars by paying for a beer in advance and receive it when bars open. Bar owners would then receive the monetary value of the advanced beer to help maintain their businesses. Every beer sale made was also matched by Heineken, effectively doubling the revenue bar owners earned.

Describe the execution

To launch the platform, we released the “Back The Bars” online film featuring sad and lonely bars from around the world waiting for their customers to return. Every scene was repurposed or edited stock footage to create typographic lyrics to Simple Minds – Don’t You Forget About Me. Our slogan: “Bars need life, as much as life needs bars.”

List the results

In two months, our initiative helped thousands of outlets worldwide, with over 218,000 vouchers being sold and over 8.2 million euros going directly to outlets. The initiative continues to run in over 20 global today.