Dive Brief:
- Heineken has named WPP as global agency partner for shopper marketing and commerce across its beer portfolio, according to a press release.
- VML Amsterdam, based near the Dutch brewer’s headquarters, will lead the account team. The work encompasses below-the-line marketing, including in-bar, retail and e-commerce activities, as well as shopping integrations around Heineken sponsorships such as Formula 1 and the UEFA Champions League.
- WPP Open, the ad-holding group’s artificial intelligence-powered operating system, will play a key role in supporting those functions. The appointment expands the brand’s existing relationship with WPP, which is pushing for a return to growth.
Dive Insight:
WPP is deepening its ties to Heineken, with a focus on leveraging its AI muscle to enhance shopper marketing and e-commerce activities for the global brewer. The account, based out of WPP’s Amsterdam Campus, covers products including the core Heineken line, nonalcoholic Heineken 0.0 and light lager Heineken Silver.
The relationship will lean heavily on WPP Open, which has received a hefty amount of investment from the agency network as it looks to keep pace in an emerging tech arms race among marketing services providers. WPP Open has integrated technology from leading generative AI developers, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google Gemini. Other CPGs have recently touted scalable use cases for AI, such as creating “digital twins” of products that can cut down production time and costs and simplify cross-channel marketing.
Heineken already works with WPP shops like Ogilvy and Design Bridge and Partners, the latter of which assisted with the brand’s 150-year anniversary campaign in 2023.
“We were impressed by WPP’s deep capabilities in shopper marketing, including their ability to drive higher efficiencies through WPP Open, underpinned by advanced AI,” said Rutger van der Stegen, global head of below-the-line marketing at the Heineken brand, in a statement around the news.
The expanded WPP work comes at a time of fast change for the beer industry. Consumers increasingly are flocking to zero-alcohol or better-for-you options, when they’re opting for beer at all. Delivery platforms have made e-commerce a more viable sales channel, but one where alcohol brands face tighter restrictions than other CPGs on the advertising front. WPP will also get to assist Heineken as it strategizes around leading sponsorships, including deals with red-hot F1, the Champions League and live music events.
At the same time, beer is subject to fierce headwinds amid a mounting trade war. U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to impose steep tariffs on European alcohol could roil the category, which is also contending with higher duties on crucial manufacturing materials like aluminum.
Still, the news marks a win for WPP amid a challenging period. The group earlier this month lost the North American media and data business for The Coca-Cola Company to rival Publicis Groupe, a major blow. WPP reported that like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs, its main measure of organic growth, slid 2.3% in Q4 2024 while declining 1% on the full year. The firm expects 2025 revenue to land somewhere in the range of being flat to down 2% as macroeconomic uncertainty intensifies.
