Heineken 0.0, the Dutch brand’s non-alcoholic offering, has recruited Wales and Real Madrid legend Gareth Bale to ask revellers to stop ‘baling’ on their mates this Dry January.
Heineken and Publicis.Poke have partnered with recently-retired football star Bale to show that just because you’re doing ‘Dry January’, it doesn’t mean you need to ‘Gareth Bale’ on your mates – with non-alcoholic alternatives, including the Dutch brewery’s own, now widely available.
The pun-filled 20-second clip features a range of scenarios in which people ‘bale’ on their friends, making up a series of lame excuses to avoid the pub, before realising that they can in fact enjoy drinking with friends even while abstaining.
“The alcohol-free category has always been about less, but we wanted to show with this campaign that Heineken 0.0 enables you to do more of what you love, like socialise with friends down the pub,” Heineken UK brand director, Stephanie Dexter said.
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“With Heineken 0.0, you can keep your January resolutions and still be part of the fun. There is no need to Bale on social plans when you have the choice of low/no products.”
Directed by Outsider’s Karien Cherry, the film will run across a range of media in the UK and will also be featured on social via a series of cut-down edits.
Publicis.Poke creative director, Chris Bruney added: “Even with the zero-alcohol category rising in popularity, there’s still a stigma to cutting back on drinking that causes people to make excuses to avoid being around alcohol.
“Publicis.Poke worked with Heineken 0.0 to try to break that cycle whilst bringing a bit of humour to the conversation, and show people that they don’t have to ‘Bale’ on their mates just because they’re not drinking.”
