If automakers can have concept cars, why can’t beer manufacturers have concept bars?” asks Mark Van Iterson, Global Head of Design and Concept at Heineken. He then proceeds to show slides of a variety of dazzling bars where the beer bottle is the hero of the show – interactive bottles with sensors that light up or start dancing to a rhythm within the crate based on certain triggers such as the opening of a bottle or sound of music being played.
You could say with ‘Heineken Ignite’ and concept bars the Dutch beer maker really uncorked the creative genie out of the bottle and reinvented the night out.
Disrupting the idea further Heineken crowdsourced concept bars and then extended the idea further by coming up with collapsible pop-up bars for events.
For the Dutch beer brand which positions itself as an
If it is exploring wirelessly networked bottles right now, then back in the 1960s it came up with a connected bottle too – an absolutely flat rectangular bottle that could be used instead of a brick to build the wall of a home. “But the idea was a big failure,” admits Iterson.
Heineken’s design fuelled journey mapped out in Iterson’s fluid presentation is lapped up eagerly by an audience thirsty for inspiration at Zee Melt, the two-day festival of creativity organised by Kyoorius.
Later catching up with cat.a.lyst , Iterson, who is an industrial designer by training, shared how design has added premiumness to brand Heineken, which sells 300 bottles or cans every second.
Driving the brand In Heineken, we see design as one of our competitive advantages, so we keep it in-house, says Iterson. For a fast moving consumer brand it’s pretty unique to have a big dedicated design team, he points out. “Yes, there are many companies with design departments but they usually only set the process for marketers. With us, I am part of the management of the Heineken brand. I am not focused on process. I am co-steering the Heineken brand. I can take initiatives on the brand.”
According to Iterson, his team’s design-led initiatives could have an impact on the product, events, packaging and communication.
“I have a team of seven design managers. We work with 10-12 best design agencies in these different fields and we do an orchestration at our end pulling the strings.”
In a way he admits that Heineken is fortunately placed as the Netherlands is the design industry’s big playground. “It’s lucky for us as we can work with people close by,” says Iterson.
The effort at Heineken, says Iterson, is always to deliver a consumer experience that is new and surprising.
Big splashy idea or tiny details Designing a consumer experience could either be through a big splashy idea that wows the user. Or it can be in very small things, such as letter spacing or balance in a layout – tiny details that a user may not even notice but add to the overall quality experience.
Iterson counts Stella Artois, Budweiser, Corona and Carlsberg in the competitive set against which Heineken pits itself.
“Almost all beer brands, if you think about it, are positioned on their heritage or roots, which is a lot of looking backwards or playing up a geography,” he says.
At Heineken, though there is a lot of heritage to work with, we position ourselves as progressive and universal. If you position the design theme on heritage it’s static – once you have cracked it, there is nothing to add. But if you position the design on future, it’s ever-changing and you are pushing yourself.
A lot of beer brands also focus instinctively on sports. Heineken has consciously not harped on this. “Sports is a very important touchpoint for beer brands as the medium connects itself instantly and we too are involved there. But sports is not our territory,” he says.
It’s easy to be present in situations where regular soccer fans are cheering teams. But it’s mainstream. “To maintain premiumness, we would like to be in surprising occasions. And that’s where the design element comes in – in creating an unexpected occasion.”
Taking on the new challenger In the Western world craft beers and artisan brews are an exploding phenomenon. So how does Heineken take on this new challenger?
“It’s an important one. We as a design team have started to write stories about our ingredients on the packaging. If you think about it we actually brew too like a craft beer,” says Iterson.
Craft beer is a welcome trend, he believes, as it makes sure that beer does not become a commodity. It is adding interest to the category – and in certain parts of the world is becoming more interesting than wine.
To take on craft beer, Heineken is in certain European markets launching speciality brands. We have a lot of brands with us – an Old Beligum brand Affligem, a very cool US IPA brand Lagunita ...,” says Iterson.
Ultimately, the effort of design and marketing, he observes, is to create continuous excitement on the shelves and in the bars.