Heineken's beer cooler robot will help roll out new summer campaign

Consumers overwhelmed by the summer chore of lugging heavy beer coolers may be able to put that struggle behind them on July 1 when Heineken gives away a robotic, AI-supported ice chest that ensures ice-cold brews are always nearby. The Heineken B.O.T.—a clever acronym for the more clunky “Beer Outdoor Transporter”—is essentially an autonomous voice-activated cooler on wheels, holding 12 cans of lager and going everywhere you do. (Well, almost everywhere; a promotional video for the contraption shows that it’s smart enough to not fall into a pool.) The B.O.T's launch is a complement to a larger digital campaign Heineken is running in the U.S. starting this week, aimed at younger consumers of legal drinking age and encouraging them to embrace this mostly back-to-normal summer as an opportunity to make up for 2020’s summer that wasn’t. “It’s really about the transition from last summer being the ‘summer of can’t’—can’t go to bars, can’t go to movies, can’t go to concerts—to this year being the ‘Summer of Can,’” says Heineken USA brand director Josh Egan, playing on the emphasis on aluminum cans versus glass bottles in the campaign. “Obviously, you can’t bring bottles of beer and glass to a lot of summer occasions.” Created by Publicis and shot using an iPhone 12 Pro, Heineken’s “Summer of Can” campaign is about what Egan calls “attention-driving visuals” that will quickly engage younger Americans wherever they are in the digital ecosystem. “What you won’t see here is really complex story arcs and really complex positioning,” he adds. The 15-second digital vignettes, developed separately from Heineken’s international presence for a uniquely U.S. audience, focus on favorite summertime activities from camping to pool parties to grilling. The “Summer of Can” trio of spots are slated to first trickle out online tomorrow with the campaign in full swing by July 1, Egan confirms, while additional testing is underway to decide whether or not to air the ads on TV. The campaign will run until Labor Day with plans for Heineken to extend its summery influence via dating app partnerships, Snapchat filters and more in the coming weeks and months. And the perfect companion for Heineken drinkers’ summer gallivanting? “The one summer accessory that has been completely neglected for the past year and a half: the cooler,” says Egan, who adds that Heineken enlisted outside help to built its beer-toting robot. “As good as we are at making beer, we’re not so good at robots,” he laughs. The B.O.T. was developed with Minneapolis-based creative shop Fast Horse, which has previously undertaken work for multiple beer brands and has even ventured into the realm of coolers before; the same agency was behind Heineken-owned Dos Equis’ social distancing-inspired “Seis-Foot Cooler” giveaway last year. It is able to carry 12 cans of beer and plenty of ice, and is capable of traveling on ADA-compliant hard surfaces such as concrete, tile and wood. To win one of the limited edition B.O.T.s, which are available in “extremely limited quantity,” consumers must head to the robot’s dedicated landing page, www.heinekenbot.com, between 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on July 1.

Heineken's beer cooler robot will help roll out new summer campaign

Featured Stories