How Creators Assist Heineken Open the World (HBBIP #98)

Every week, we’ll deliver you choose insights from our publication, Easy methods to Construct Manufacturers and Affect Individuals (HBBIP). To have all of those insights delivered on to your inbox, subscribe immediately! 

If you happen to’re a trustworthy reader of this article, which I hope you might be, you might need observed a decidedly European bent to current editions. Sure, like all nice lodge breakfasts, as of late I’ve been going continental:

• TK Maxx (all over the place however America)
• IKEA (Sweden)
• Dove (Europe)
• Volkswagen (Germany)
• Components 1 (Monaco and Dubai)
• Premier League (England)

That covers an honest quantity of floor, no?

Mr. Worldwide

However we are able to all the time cowl extra! Which brings me to this phrase: Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal.

Ten factors to whomever appropriately recognized that as Dutch, somewhat than a cat working throughout my keyboard. As Google will let you know, that enjoyable little phrase refers to a canal in Amsterdam, which is kind of like saying it refers to a rat in New York. 

Why this specific canal? As a result of, my buddies, that canal is the birthplace of this week’s featured model. So come away with me to the land of bicycles and tulips, and settle in for an additional story of creator advertising glory! And when you’re settling in, would possibly I like to recommend cracking open a pleasant chilly bottle of…

The High Model of All Time (of the Week): Heineken

That’s proper! All people’s favourite Dutch lager (apologies, Grolsch followers), Heineken will not be solely a stable wager on the bar, but additionally a standout instance of the ability of creators. Don’t imagine me? Let’s go to the numbers:

Heineken Creator Depend (International): 2020 – 2024

This being creator advertising, let’s begin with creator depend, or the variety of creators mentioning Heineken all internationally. Right here we see an nearly platonic very best of up-and-to-the-right, regular, staircase-esque development, with Heineken’s creator depend increasing 3x from 2020 to 2024.

Heineken Submit Depend (International): 2020 – 2024

Since efficient creators are likely to put up about their favourite manufacturers greater than as soon as in any given 12 months—it’s not sufficient to only put up a birthday message!—it follows that Heineken’s put up depend noticed an identical however in the end much more dramatic development. The truth is, the metric noticed a 5x growth over the course of 5 years, with Heineken rising from 5.6k posts from its international creator inhabitants in 2020 to 29.7k in 2024.

Heineken EMV (International): 2020 – 2024

If you happen to’re beginning to get tired of all this constant year-over-year development, I don’t blame you. Ho-hum, one other 5x enchancment in 5 years—this time in EMV, the place Heineken surged from $17.7M EMV in 2020 to $94.7M EMV in 2024.

However take word! One thing’s completely different right here. In contrast to Heineken’s creator and put up counts, the model’s EMV development slowed between 2023 and 2024. Does this indicate an identical slowdown for impressions and engagements?

Heineken Impressions (International): 2020 – 2024

Not only a slowdown, buddies—a decline! That’s proper: after a gentle rise, Heineken’s international impressions dropped barely between 2023 and 2024, although the model’s 2024 whole remained properly above its fee throughout any earlier 12 months. In all, Heineken’s 1.1B whole in 2024 represented an 8x surge from its 137.7M mark in 2020.

This obtained me questioning: did that downward development for impressions proceed into 2025? We solely have H1 information to go off, so the numbers received’t be full, however it ought to a minimum of be sufficient to supply a way of trajectory.

Heineken Impressions (International): 2020 – H1 2025

Effectively, that’s definitely a transparent sense of trajectory. Heineken garnered practically as many international impressions from January to June 2025 (1.1B, however like, smaller than the opposite 1.1B) because it did in all of 2024. In different phrases, when you play out July via December 2025, Heineken is poised to not solely reverse the development and develop its impressions as soon as once more, however completely shatter its earlier file.

How does this phenomenon play out for engagements?

Heineken Engagements (International): 2020 – 2024

Hmm, okay—that’s a sharper drop between 2023 and 2024 than we noticed for impressions. However perhaps Heineken confirmed an identical restoration in H1 2025?

Heineken Engagements (International): 2020 – H1 2025

Now the image will get somewhat extra nuanced. At 20.2M engagements via six months, Heineken is on observe to outpace its 2024 whole of 36.8M engagements. Nevertheless, that fee continues to be beneath the 46M whole engagements that Heineken noticed in 2023.

So Heineken is rising in impressions, contracting barely in engagements, however persevering with to develop its creator depend, put up depend, and EMV. To me, all of this spells TikTok. However do the numbers bear that out? 

To find out the reply, I checked out Heineken’s international totals from July 2024 to June 2025. Right here’s a breakdown of how main social channels contributed to the model’s impressions:

Channel Breakdown for Model Impressions

That definitely appears to bear out the TikTok principle. How about engagements?

Channel Breakdown for Model Engagements

Effectively, this additionally bears out the TikTok principle: good for impressions, not a lot for engagements, which tends to be Instagram’s area. One metric or platform isn’t higher than the opposite—it’s only a matter of a given model realizing what it needs to realize at a particular second.

From there, I used to be curious to see whether or not impressions and engagements are generated alongside comparable patterns: principally, whether or not they are likely to spike across the similar moments or occasions. I don’t assume I’d examined this query earlier than, a minimum of not on this publication, and what I discovered stunned me:

Heineken TikTok Impressions (International): July 2024 – July 2025

On TikTok, Heineken’s impressions have been very certain to particular model moments. Some months, notably Could 2025, noticed sudden spikes, whereas different months noticed nearly negligible exercise.

Heineken Instagram Impressions (International): July 2024 – July 2025

It was a completely completely different story on Instagram, the place engagements tended to be extra evenly distributed, although there was nonetheless loads of month-to-month fluctuation. A few of that uniformity stems from the scales at play with every metric: month-to-month Instagram engagements prime out at simply north of 3M, whereas TikTok impressions peaked at, oh, a cool 400M. 

However these variations are notable even regardless of these different orders of magnitude. The graphs point out that TikTok and Instagram serve diverging features as platforms in relation to planning creator advertising moments. For instance, how can Could 2025 be so lopsided on TikTok and so normal on Instagram? And what occurred in Could 2025, anyway?

In wanting on the information, Could stands out for a TikTok marketing campaign that includes Brazilian creators having fun with Heineken throughout particular or sentimental moments, and even simply going about their each day routines. The model additionally furnished particular moments of its personal by bringing creators to the Miami Grand Prix, a signature occasion for an additional current HBBIP profilee, Components 1. 

On a grander scale, Heineken’s Could 2025 initiatives underscore a number of the abiding rules and strengths behind its creator advertising program:

• An emphasis on TikTok and short-form video, with particular consideration to Gen Z-friendly moments.
• A very worldwide focus, with elevated momentum in Latin American markets.
• A cross-vertical technique that ties collectively alcoholic drinks with sports activities, leisure, and different high-impact industries.

Whereas Could might need been Heineken’s most potent month—I’ve seen Brazilian TikTok do loopy numbers for different manufacturers, too—these methods have been on show all through the previous 12 months. Whether or not Heineken was producing music movies in South Africa, internet hosting creators on the Heineken Silver Reside Out competition in Mexico, or going behind the scenes at Panama Trend Week, the model’s attain was simple. These market-specific initiatives added as much as large international numbers, validating Heineken’s increasing creator and put up counts. Control the model in H2 2025 and past, as a result of if historical past is any indication, there’s extra development to return.

To get all of those tales, plus far more, delivered to your inbox weekly, be sure you subscribe to our publication.