Heineken’s new global agency model rolls out for 2030
Heineken has appointed a new roster of Creative, Production, and Media partners to accelerate the next phase of growth for its Global and Power Brands portfolio.
Source: www.unsplash.com
Growth strategy
“This marks a significant step in Heineken’s EverGreen 2030 Growth Strategy and the ambition to build a more streamlined, effective, and future-fit agency model, designed to deliver greater creative impact, operational efficiency, and consistency at scale. Moving to fewer, better and bigger agency partners is part of our broader Freddyai Commercial transformation," said Bram Westenbrink, chief commercial officer at Heineken.
Following a competitive pitch process, Heineken has reappointed dentsu as its agency for Global Media, and Publicis for Global secondary Production. The Global Creative roster has been consolidated with three Holding companies: Publicis, WPP, and Stagwell. Creative for the Heineken brand was out of scope for this review and continues to be in the hands of Publicis.
The brand said the new structure ensures that Heineken's Global Brands Amstel, Birra Moretti, Desperados, and Tiger, as well as selected priority local power brands, are supported by a focused set of strategic partners, enabling stronger brand building through deeper collaboration, and greater consistency and scalability across markets.
Distinctive brands
“Our new agency ecosystem is a key enabler of our ambition to build stronger, more distinctive brands at scale. By partnering with a smaller number of world-class agencies, we are creating the conditions for deeper collaboration, sharper strategic focus, and more impactful creativity.
"At the same time, this model allows us to operate with greater speed and efficiency, ensuring we can deliver high-quality work consistently across our global and local brand portfolio. We are grateful to all participating agencies for their commitment throughout this extensive process. The quality of thinking, creativity, and talent on display was exceptional," said Jorn Socquet, senior director global brand impact & growth transformation at Heineken.
The transition to the new agency model will begin immediately, with a phased implementation aligned to brand planning cycles to ensure continuity and business stability across markets.