‘The Best Driver Is The One That’s Not Drinking’ - Max Verstappen x Heineken
Second post! Here, we’ll be taking a look at ‘The Best Driver Is The One That’s Not Drinking’ campaign. This was a collaboration between Max Verstappen and Heineken in 2023 to promote responsible drinking. We’ll take a look at the history between the two brands, the campaign itself, and what I’d change about this campaign.
Max Verstappen, Formula 1 & Heineken: A Brief History
Max Verstappen is arguably the man of the moment in Formula 1 (F1). The Dutch racer made his debut into the sport in the year 2015 at just 17 years old, becoming the youngest driver in the history of the sport. He signed to Red Bull Racing from the junior Toro Rosso team in 2016 and that same year, he won the Spanish Grand Prix. Today, he has three Drivers Championship, contributed to 2 constructor championships and has won the third most Grand Prix races (61) after Michael Schumacher (91) and Lewis Hamilton (104).
Heineken is the second largest beer brewery in the world. In 2022, they produced 256.9 million hectolitres of beer and made €38.02 billion in revenue. Being a Dutch brand too, it’s almost a no brainer that they’d team up with the leading Dutch racer. They also partnered with Formula 1 in 2016 on a global level, and they became the sponsor of the Las Vegas Grand Prix (the ‘Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix’).
Heineken CEO, Dolf Van de Brink and Max Verstappen
‘When You Drive, Never Drink’ - Heineken’s Motto for Safe Driving
'When You Drive, Never Drink’ is what has basically given birth to ‘The Best Driver’ campaign. Beginning in 2016, the aim of the campaign was to promote safe driving and the consequences of not doing so. 2017 saw them release their ‘Heineken 0.0’ line which essentially is a 0% alcohol drink. Six years later, Heineken partnered with now Oracle Red Bull Racing, with their main focus to deliver on and off-track experiences throughout the F1 calendar. They do this by mixing performance on the track with downtime play and leisure, which ultimately provide exception fan experiences such as fun musical events with the best DJs or eSports simulator activities. Adding Max Verstappen to the mix, you get a reputable driver amplifying the important of safe drinking and driving.
Story 10, a sports video production company, partnered with advertising agency M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment to shoot content with Max and Dolf van den Brink, CEO of Heineken. This would be the creative film commercial which spearheaded both the “When You Drive, Never Drink” and “Player 0.0” (the gaming initiative) campaigns. An interview between the highlighting their excitement working together, the outcomes of the campaign were:
18 markets reached covering 85+ territories
29 Media outlets covering the partnership
79k impressions with sports fans on social media
$111k ad value generated.
‘The Best Driver’
In the video commercial for the best ad campaign, Max can be seen socialising with friends in a pub. The night has come to an end and the group of friends are discussing who should drive home after the night out. Max is chosen because he is not the one drinking and so he is safest to drive. In the conceptualisation of the ad, research showed that the factors that decided who drives on a night-out were ones’ driving experience, volunteering to drive or general enjoyment. Through this ad, Heineken’s message is that the best driver is not the one who is necessarily a racer, but the one who isn’t drinking on a night out.
Heineken is committing 10% of their total media spend on responsible drinking programmes. This may include spending on their 0% alcohol brand too.
What I liked vs What I didn’t like
What I liked
The ad has a simple message: when you are drinking, driving shouldn’t be something to consider. This is because of the fatal consequences it can have.
A brand that operates in the alcohol beverage world is putting a foot forward to amplify responsible drinking
They’ve chosen “one of their own” as a Dutch brand by partnering with a Dutch racer in the form of Max Verstappen. To Dutch fans, this can be personal and sentimental to them.
The F1 fandom have someone they admire as a racer in the form of Max Verstappen as the face of the campaign. By looking at the way Max approaches drinking on a night out, they can also do the same.
What I didn’t like
The message has been communicated before Heineken started campaigns on responsible drinking. It’s not to say they can’t do them, but it may come across as a ‘broken record’ because of how much the message of responsible drinking is used to propel ads.
Whilst Heineken might be doing their social responsibility, they may come across as hypocritical because ultimately they know the majority product lines have alcohol in them and it may actually lead to people experimenting with drinking and driving which is bad.
What I would do
Goal
Here, I would be aiming to highlight WHY drink driving isn’t good (not just because Max Verstappen is not drinking when driving). I’d do this by making the message a bit more serious which may ultimately stamp Heineken’s commitment to reducing drink driving. This would increase their brand perception in ensuring safe drinking.
Research I’d Do
I’d find out about the target audience of the brand. In this case, Heineken’s target audience are men who are aged 20-35 and live in major cities. I’d also find out more about the previous types of campaigns and partnerships Heineken had previously created or been a part of. For example, a sporting platform Heineken has been part of for many years is the UEFA Champions League. I’d find out a little more about the intracacies of that partnership and other similar ones they have been a part of.
I’d also consider getting “authoritative stamp” on the campaign if possible. This would involve getting governmental campaigns such as “Think!”, a road safety campaign in the UK. As Heineken is a Dutch brand, I’d look also look at getting road safety campaigns in the Netherlands involved. One example of such a campaign in the Netherlands is the “BOB” campaign on drink driving. The authoritative stamp from such campaigns would be the tone of voice that they’d convey as well as statistics to support.
Content Mix
I would keep Heineken’s format of having people in social gatherings in a bar or pub as their main. This makes the visuals of the commercial relatable to the target audience as the audience themselves would have experienced being in such settings. I may also have more F1 stars in the commercial. They could all be drinking either Heineken’s 0% brand or normal drinks. At the end of the night, they could discuss between themselves who’s driving. The current champion (who’s Max Verstappen) would then be asked as he’d not be drinking alcohol but Heineken 0%. That way, there is a unified front to push the message of responsible drinking.
The governmental campaigns would come in to provide the statistics of the consequences of drink driving. This would help convey the seriousness of it. Depending on how much more serious Heineken want to make the issue, they could include small clips of fatal accidents or people giving their experiences of being involved of being in a drink driving incident.
I’d make a 15-30” video ad to go on TV and CTV platforms, as well as putting the video on social media. I’d also have display advertisements of the campaign on sports websites so that they target Heineken’s primary audience.
Distribution
I’d apply a similar strategy Story10 did with getting it out to the various broadcast channels on their sports segment. I’d also get influencers and journalists in the F1 world involved to push the message because they’d be able to interact with fans more immediately online. I’d also keep the F1 engagements (music festivals, eSports events) with the fans so they can be platforms to promote responsible drinking.
