Heineken transforms laundromats into late-night sports viewing spots

Dive Brief:

Heineken has launched a campaign to turn select 24-hour laundromats into late-night sports-viewing locations where UEFA Champions League fans can watch the soccer matches, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The ”LaundroMatch” campaign is based in South Korea, where fans of the league must tune in during the early morning hours to catch games in real-time.
For the effort, consumers can scan a time-sensitive QR-code on washing machines at local locations of WashEnjoy, one of South Korea’s largest laundromat franchises. The code will give them access to a live stream of the quarter- and semi-final soccer matches on SPOTV, the only UEFA Champions League broadcaster in the region.
Heineken is a long-time sponsor of the UEFA Champions League. The “LaundroMatch” activation, made with LePub Singapore, is part of the brand’s larger “Cheers to the Real Hardcore Fans,” global campaign that launched in February.

Dive Insight:

The UEFA Champions League’s roots, games and largest fan base may be in Europe, but some of the sport’s hardcore fans are also in Asia. These devotees are so dedicated they will wake up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. to catch a UEFA Champions League match live, despite sports bars in South Korea being closed at that time.

Heineken’s solution, in partnership with LePub Singapore and WashEnjoy, skirts the issue by transforming one of the nation’s few 24-hour businesses — laundromats — into makeshift sports viewing hubs where groups of fans can get together to watch the league’s quarter- and semi-final matches until June. For the effort, consumers can scan QR codes at WashEnjoy laundromats to access a complimentary 30-day SPOTV subscription.

Access to the offer is only available during the matches. After scanning the QR code, consumers can access a landing page offering SPOTV, with the design of the site inspired by the shape of a washing machine. The campaign launched on April 10, timed to two consecutive events.

The idea for “LaundroMatch” is in keeping with Heineken’s UEFA Champions League campaign, “Cheers to the Real Hardcore Fans,” which depicts the lengths to which many of the sport’s fans will go to show their devotion, like naming their pets after their favorite players. The campaign is meant to redefine what it means to be a hardcore fan in a bid to make football more inclusive.

“Heineken believes that being a ‘real hardcore’ football fan isn’t about how you look, it’s about how you behave – anyone who wakes up at ridiculous hours to watch their team, names their pets after their icons, or wears their lucky pair of socks during matches qualifies as hardcore,” said Giwoun Park, marketing director at Heineken Korea, in a release. “We wanted to celebrate Asia’s hardcore fans who truly live and breathe the sport in a positive, sometimes quirky way.”

Heineken has not been above quirkiness in its latest marketing. The brand recently teamed with streetwear retailer Bodega to launch “The Boring Phone,” a limited-edition, limited-feature phone that has no internet access nor apps. Launched as part of Milan Design Week, the phone and a related campaign are designed to encourage consumers to reduce their screen time and increase human connection.

Last year, Heineken’s Brazil group, in partnership with LePub Brazil, designed a functioning gaming PC that doubled as a refrigerator that could keep beverages cold. The “TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3” was part of the brand’s “Not All Nights Out are Out” campaign targeted at gamers.