I’ve just come across a great campaign by Heineken called “Voyage” with the tagline “Are legends born, or made?” It is testing what men are truly made of when taken out of their daily lives and dropped into the great unknown. Imagine the following situation. You are a highly social character, out-going and confident. You get chosen to go on a legendary adventure – something you have never done before – a new experience that will test your resourcefulness. But then you find yourself in the freezing wilderness of Alaska – alone on a glacier, with nothing but a giant life-ring, a tuxedo and a plane ticket to get you home – and the airport is hundreds of miles away.
Check out the video:
Essentially, they take different men from across the world and drops them in remote global locations with nothing but the most basic of supplies and directions. The result is ‘Dropped’ – a series of episodic adventures following our intrepid explorers on their legendary travel experience.
‘Voyage’ is the fifth installment of the Heineken ‘Legends’ platform, The integrated campaign, which will live on a variety of platforms across broadcast, digital and mobile, will allow consumers to have a truly immersive experience via the Heineken® Dropped YouTube channel. Here, viewers will be able to follow each ‘Dropped’ voyage, access documentary-style content and also contribute their own video entries to the ‘casting couch’ – with the ultimate chance of partaking in their own legendary travel adventure.
It’s a fascinating experiment, where Heineken is creating stories which each of their characters – forcing them to discover their own limits and conquer their fears. Across four continents they’ll face a multitude of challenges – tough terrain, curious locals and unusual modes of transport. As the Dropped episodes unfold, so the social experiment will come to life, with viewers of each voyage able to follow how each traveller fares through a series of diary entries and journey updates. And their final destination? Home. Will they make it?
As with all such experiments, embarking on an unscripted journey can be interesting for the brand; however it adds a layer of the magic that makes reality TV so watchable. I’ll be looking out for this one!