Heineken Silver integrated its eKoin digital currency within Arena of Valor (AOV), allowing players to earn points within the game that could be redeemed for in-game character items and upgrades.
Objective
Despite high penetration, there are still people who've never held Heineken Silver in their hands. To further fuel its growth, Heineken Silver needed to find more worlds to play in.
Context
Heineken Silver's volume had been on a steady decline in Vietnam. The launch of Silver — a refreshingly smooth session-able beer perfectly crafted to suit the taste palates of a young Vietnamese audience — started to halt this decline.
Some of this can be attributed to Heineken introducing eKoin — the first digital token from Heineken Silver, which drove earnable and collectable based engagement with the purchase of a Heineken Silver six pack. After a successful campaign, Heineken Silver needed to sustain the momentum to convert more audiences into Heineken drinkers.
Target Audience
Heineken Silver's target audience for its campaign were generation Z and millennial (generation MZ) Vietnamese consumers who felt suffocated by the traditional premium beer conventions and occasions. This cohorts' means of socializing and entertainment is grounded in the gaming environment. This has massive implications for the way brands can connect with them.
Creative and Media Strategy
To engage generation MZ gamers, Heineken embarked on a partnership with Arena of Valor, where more than 17.5 million generation MZs are active every month. To this end, the brand launched Heineken Silver x Arena of Valor, from GEMS to SILVER.
The in-game integration replaced the gems that were earned for certain achievements in AOV with silver coins that could be exchanged for items beyond the game. The partnership was amplified by the gaming community and live streamers that generated awareness and triggered the end-to-end journey to the platform.
The experience was powered by the eKoin portal, connecting ecosystems of AOV and Heineken's eKoin in real time. This allowed smooth and seamless sign ups, coin transfers, collection, and redemption via eKoin, impacting brand engagement and sales.
For the first-of-its-kind project on the AOV side, a complex API was built to link AOV gamers with Heineken Silver's eKoin platform, ensuring a smooth, personalized experience for multiple audience segments, including:
Data such as silver coin balance, user identity, and interactions were synchronized across AOV and eKoin. Personalization was achieved by mapping user segments based on data and touchpoints to specific actions and experiences on both platforms.
AOV gamers collected silver coins through in-game activities such as daily logins, after every battle, in game missions, and checkpoint accomplishments. These coins were transferred to eKoins using the platform API. Gamers browsed and chose from AOV treasures available (bronze, silver, golden), purchasing them with eKoins. After buying, they received voucher codes on the eKoin platform and later redeemed them in-game.
The campaign was linked to sales through eKoin accumulation and real-world incentives. Gamers could purchase Heineken Silver six-packs, which had QR codes that awarded eKoins when scanned. The campaign encouraged gamers to either earn eKoins in-game or buy Heineken Silver in real life, bridging virtual and real-world interactions.
By entering AOV and connecting it with the existing eKoin platform, Heineken was able to deliver impressive results:
