Heineken, @wherenext

‘@wherenext is Heineken’s latest social venture, designed to unite its audience in the urban pursuit of knowledge through their ‘Cities of the World’ campaign. By tweeting @wherenext followed by a location, users are sent a number of potential venues and a link to a mobile site carrying images and reviews. By using a unique algorithm that accounts for social media activity across platforms including Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare, @wherenext is capable of utilising geo-targeting in order to determine which locations near its audience are trending.

Aside from the obvious interaction @wherenext creates between Heineken and its fans, it holds great potential for audience involvement within the current digital environment. As Jean-Philippe Maheu, Twitter’s MD of global brand and agency strategy, states, “It’s well suited to the real-time and mobile nature of the platform and will give fans a window into the most vibrant experiences in cities around the world, right in the palm of their hand.” As its foundation is predicated upon its audience’s desire not to miss out, it lends itself well to recent media sharing applications such as Vine and Snapchat. Whilst @wherenext’s algorithm combines several popular social media platforms to generate a geo-targeted trend, it in turn provides a tangible medium that links together popular digital advertising and sharing platforms.

Photo taken from Heineken: The City AD

Interlinking devices in this manner is paving the way to an ever more geo-targeting focused consumer experience. Having recently paired up for 6 months with the Metro in order to bring the theme of urban exploration to London, Heineken’s @wherenext has established itself as a long-term campaign, capable of targeting audiences worldwide on a local basis.

Essentially, Heineken have created an open invite event that makes use of already established Digital platforms without forcing the Heineken brand on its users. As Paul Smailes, Heineken’s global head of digital states, “Yes, it’s a branded utility, but one of the key things we decided was that we didn’t want to do this on a Heineken handle,” he continues, “We felt doing it on @wherenext provided more credibility for people to use it.” In an age where a user desiring to engage with a campaign is the biggest prize, @wherenext presents itself as an appealing bridge between brand and user experience.