Heineken has retained Dentsu as its global media agency while consolidating its production and creative services to three groups, albeit with one important local caveat.
Publicis Groupe will continue as the lead creative for the Heineken brand and lead on production across the portfolio.
Heineken has consolidated the creative roster for its major global and local power brands—including Amstel, Birra Moretti, Desperados, Tiger—to three holding companies: Publicis, WPP and Stagwell.
“This marks a significant step in Heineken’s EverGreen 2030 Growth Strategy and the ambition to build a more streamlined, effective, and future-fit agency model, designed to deliver greater creative impact, operational efficiency, and consistency at scale,” Heineken chief commercial officer Bram Westenbrink said.
“Moving to fewer, better and bigger agency partners is part of our broader Freddy.ai Commercial transformation.”
The new agency model applies to most of Heineken’s global markets with one notable exception.
In Australia, Heineken is brewed and distributed by Lion, with its media planning and buying arrangements handled by EssenceMediacom, which won the account last year from UM.
Heineken has recently partnered with local indies including Momentum for an F1 fan experience and Blobfish for a beer and boats activation on the Yarra River.
Publicis Groupe’s LePub has been behind some of Heineken’s most eye catching work in the past year, including the Rooftop Revival in Seoul, and the remarkable Pub That Refused To Die (see below).
