Heineken’s radical collaboration and the future of socialising

Brian Carruthers

Heineken has developed what it says is a unique approach to achieving relevance, involving “radical collaboration [and] radical localisation” around the idea of what socialising now means.

The Brits – or more accurately, perhaps, the British media – have developed a habit of appropriating Scandinavian words to describe various aspects of lifestyle. Thus, the Danish hygge was all the rage a few years ago, then there was Swedish lagom, and now may be the time for Dutch gezelligheid.

Gezelligheid can meandifferent things in different contexts, but for brewer Heineken the important one is having fun with friends, having a laugh and a drink. As James Thompson, chief commercial officer at Heineken, explained to an audience at the Cannes Lions...

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