Agency Opps Update: Heineken taps global media AOR, sends RFI out to creative agencies (Score 26)

Update: Heineken recently named Dentsu as global media AOR for its flagship brand, along with Dos Equis and Tecate. The shift replaces incumbent Canvas WW, which picked up the account in November 2018. This hire comes not long after Heineken sent out an RFI to creative agencies (more below), so we'll see additional roster shifts on Heineken's part in the coming months.

Right now, the company is targeting millennials and Gen-X primarily, though it does also tend to target Gen-Z secondarily. Heineken's target demographic has a strong male skew. The company is currently utilizing national TV, digital, paid social, print, radio, OOH and local broadcast. Its TV commercials also target Hispanic audiences, and national TV spend is increasing. Read more about Heineken's recent spend in the article below.

Agency & martech readers - Get in touch soon to offer relevant creative services. Once the creative review concludes, we may also see PR and/or digital analytics hires. Winmo states that along with Dentsu, Heineken works with digital AOR 360i, creative and PR AOR R&CPMK, creative AOR Publicis North America, creative AOR Sid Lee and PR AOR Edelman.

The article below was originally published on June 3:

Heineken recently sent an RFI to creative agencies, seeking new global partners to help it navigate an evolving marketing and communications world. The scope is centered around the company's ~300 international brands, which do not include the global flagship Heineken brand. Publicis handles that brand. The RFI reportedly covers creative and production, but media is not up for review. Heineken doesn't have a fixed deadline for selecting new partners, but I expect we'll see at least one hire within the coming months. Agencies able to offer relevant creative services should get in touch sooner rather than later to be involved in the review, which R3 is leading.

So far this year, iSpot reports Heineken has spent approximately $11.9m on national TV commercials, up 49% from the approximately $8m spent within the same 2021 timeframe. The brand ended up spending approximately $27m on this channel last year, down 5% from the approximately $28.4m spent in 2020. Heineken's 2022 commercials have targeted English- and Spanish-speaking male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as NBA Basketball, the 2022 Winter Olympics, SportsCenter, Fútbol Mexicano Primera División and the 2022 NFL Draft.

Per Pathmatics, the company has allocated roughly $4.5m toward digital ads YTD, less than half of the roughly $10.6m it had allocated by this point last year. Heineken's estimated full-year 2021 spend jumped 40% to $28.9m from that of $20.6m in 2020. Since the beginning of 2022, the company has earned around 595.3m digital impressions via Facebook (47%), Instagram (30%), Twitter (18%), desktop video (3%) and desktop display (1%) ads.

Heineken traditionally targets Gen-Z and millennials. However, as you can tell, TV spend is rising sharply while digital spend declines; this leads me to believe the company is currently targeting millennials and Gen-X. Heineken's target demographic also has a strong male skew. Kantar data shows it also invests in print, radio, OOH and local broadcast.

Agency & martech readers - As I briefly mentioned, media is not part of this review; however, we could see a PR, media and/or digital analytics hire once this creative review concludes. Dentsu currently handles Heineken's media. Winmo states that along with Publicis and Dentsu, the company also works with media AOR Canvas Worldwide, digital AOR 360i, creative and PR AOR R&CPMK, creative AOR Sid Lee and PR AOR Edelman.