Heineken Enters the Metaverse with an #awesomeheinekenmarketingstunt

The metaverse has been getting a lot of attention, with interest in the virtual world rising and new advertisers hopping on the bandwagon every passing week. Dutch brewing giant Heineken had a unique take launching a virtual beer that’s brewed exclusively within Decentraland.

The virtual beer is meant to poke fun “at us and many other brands” that are jumping headfirst into the metaverse hype by launching virtual products and services as publicity stunts. Describing the carefully crafted components that go into its virtual beer, Heineken said it’s made of “the freshest pixels: no malt, no hops, no yeast, no water, and also, no beer.

The goal of this campaign is to remind people that nothing can replace the experience of drinking a real beer in the real world, and the campaign achieved that by teasing the product in the game. When you immerse yourself fully into Decentraland, you can’t do much in the company’s new digital brewery other than wandering around and watching a boring executive talk, but you can, snap and then share screenshots with the hashtag: “#awesomeheinekenmarketingstunt”
In the first 7 days, over 43.5K people had used the hashtag on social media platforms. However, considering Decentraland has around 800,000 users and 6000 daily active users, engaging users has fostered a significant impact off-platform.

In 2022, brands are rushing to enter the metaverse and launch products and experiences that don’t exist in the real world, however Heineken’s tongue-in-cheek went against the grain and still drove appeal with users. The metaverse continues to grow and it’s key that advertisers create experiences, built for platform and their audiences.

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