Until recently alcohol-free beer was seen as something of a joke and there was a definite and unnecessary stigma attached to it. But over the last few years there’s been a genuine concerted effort towards creating decent alcohol-free beers that actually taste like beer. Indeed, many of the more recent offerings provide a healthy mid-week alternative to regular weekend drinkers rather than the teetotallers the product was once solely aimed at. One such beer is Heineken’s 0.0.
To further bring the 0% lager into the mainstream, Heineken recently teamed up with the UK’s leading soap operas to bring their sin-free beverage to drinkers in Emmerdale’s Woolpack and Coronation Street’s Rovers Return.
Switch on to either soap today and you’ll see Heineken 0.0 draught taps on the bars alongside fictional beers like Newton & Ridley and Ephraim Monk for much-loved landlords Jenny Connor and Charity Dingle to pull on-screen pints for the next year. It is a seismic moment in Heineken’s on-going mission to normalise alcohol-free beer and a huge leap towards making alcohol-free beer more visible and acceptable in the UK.
With a combined viewership of 11 million and massive influence over popular culture, the deal is expected to help break down stigmas and encourage people to explore the category as drinking habits continue to change. The deal is also in alignment with Heineken’s “Always a Choice” promise and its ambition to have as many Heineken 0.0 Draught taps as there are Heineken Original taps in British pubs and bars by 2025.
To go a little deeper and explore what the deal means for Heineken going forward, we spoke to Joanna Dring, head of media, and Joseph Brophy, senior brand PR manager at Heineken UK to go behind the idea.
What was the brief?
JD: This wasn’t the standard briefing process… which to explain, needs some context. Heineken 0.0 is the UK’s best selling alcohol free beer, and last year, we announced that it would be rolled out on draught, to hundreds of pubs across the UK.
The low and no beer market is relatively new, and one of the challenges that exists is visibility on the bar of pubs, and breaking down the stigmas associated with alcohol free beer. Essentially, as market leaders, our responsibility is to make ordering an alcohol free beer in pubs as normal as it is ordering a pint with the alcohol.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
JB: Like all good ideas, this one started over a pint in a pub. We’d just come out of lockdown, and Jo, Matthew Leggett (from our product placement agency Scenario UK) and I were having a much-needed face to face catch up and brainstorm on ideas of how we could normalise no alcohol beer when the immortal words were uttered: “wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get Heineken 0.0 on the bar of the Rovers Return?”
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
JD: Our first port of call was OfCom who approved of the concept. We then approached ITV. It was important that both our sustainability strategies aligned, particularly that of the wellbeing of their viewers, and our moderation strategy – ‘Always A Choice’ – that is, whenever you encounter one of our brands, there should be a low or no alcohol alternative.
Having Heineken 0.0 on the bar of the Rovers Return and The Woolpack, two of the most famous pubs in the world, would turbo charge the normalisation of alcohol-free beer to 11m people, in their living rooms, every day.
What was the production process like?
JB: We made changes to the Heineken 0.0 font to increase the visibility of the 0.0 aspect. In fact, ‘0.0’ accounts for around 75-80% of the font. The size of the actual font also had to be changed to make sure that it worked on camera and wasn’t blocking peoples’ faces, whilst we also had to consider how to limit any reflections that could be caused by studio lighting.
We worked very closely with the team at ITV – Nicola Gillham (Head of Creative Partnerships – Continuing Drama), who kept the project on track despite tight deadlines. From the initial idea in June 2021, to being on screen at the end of April 2022, is a quick turnaround.
We also had to work around the production of the soaps in order to film VTs for the launch of the partnership – so there were a couple of late nights on the sets of the soaps!
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
JD: For the Heineken team, to be able to visit the sets of Emmerdale and Coronation Street was a huge privilege. These programmes are an institution, known all over the world, and to be able to stand behind the bar of the Rovers and The Woolpack pulling a pint of Heineken 0.0 was incredible.
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
JB: Whether you fancy the alcohol or not, there is always a choice when you go to the pub.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
JD: We had the idea in June 2021 and it was on TV April 2022, but that doesn’t take into account that the proposition wasn’t even practical until the end of the year due to The Woolpack being blown up as part of an ongoing storyline. In reality, this meant that it was pitched, discussed and test shot in January, recorded in February and then transmitted in April. For something as big as this, I think that’s a pretty good turnaround time!
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
JB: Increased awareness of alcohol free products and complete normalisation of going into your local and asking for a pint of alcohol free beer.
Credit list for the work?
Heineken UK
- Joanna Dring – Head of Media
- Joseph Brophy – Senior Brand PR Manager
- Diederick ter Kulve -Assistant Brand Manager
- Alexander Drake, Senior Brand Manager
- Stephanie Dexter, Marketing Manager
- Beybun Kiliç – Channel & Digital Manager
- James Crampton –Corporate Affairs Director
- William Mills – Responsibility and Policy Manager
- Guy Mason – Head of Public Affairs
- Ashleigh Lloyd – Senior Corporate Communications Manager
ITV Commercial
- Nicola Gillham – Head of Creative Partnerships – Continuing Drama
- Emma Lindsay – Senior Strategist
- Laura Meehan – Laura Meehan
- Mark Trinder – Director of Commercial Sales and Partnerships
- Tom Hodson – Head of Press, Commercial and Online
- Tanya Nyenwa – Press Officer
ITV Studios
- John Whiston – Managing Director
- Jane Hudson – Executive Producer – Emmerdale
- Iain MacLeod – Series Producer – Coronation Street
Emmerdale Design
- Gillian Slight
- Taransay Chisholm
- Ian Robertshaw
Coronation Street Design
- Rosie Mullins
- Lisa Swarbrick
- Becky Gillbanks
ScenarioUK
- Matthew Leggett – Managing Partner
Cow PR
- Dan Turner – Director
- James Richards – Senior Account Manager
- Brendan Hodrien – Senior Account Executive
