Insights from CTV leaders at Dentsu, Horizon Media and more
Filmmakers of tiny, short fare, get ready for your closeups. For the last few weeks, Heineken had asked its 34,000 Twitter fans to send 140-character movie pitches to the brand. Now, it will produce one lucky tweet into a 15-second film, to be aired at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.
“All of our Heineken campaigns start with the idea of going beyond what you’re capable of,” said Andrea Folkerts, a jr. brand manager for sponsorships and events at Heineken. “We want to push consumers outside of their comfort zone.”
The pitches ranged anywhere from personal to post-apocalyptic:
@Heineken_US failed rapper from va beach becomes hit song writer and ends up blowing a fortune and going to rehab (me) #15secondpremiere
— JKash (@jacobkasher) March 6, 2014
Guy gets friendzoned in different parts of his life: high school, college, the real world. Does one actually love him? #15secondpremiere
— chadd maddock (@madd_as_chadd) March 5, 2014
Aliens try to conquer earth, human protagonists in love pentagon, all are triple agents, talking sharks, it’s a rock opera #15secondpremiere
— Daniel Becker (@danxbecker) March 3, 2014
Man and wife. Man has obsession with banana. Banana ruins their marriage and kills the wife. Man and banana get married. #15secondpremiere
— Jack Hinders (@Hinders6) February 28, 2014
#15SECONDPREMIERE Drought Draught: A decade of desparate drought conditions in LA replaces water with lager, fueling a creative revolution.
— Ryan A. McPhail (@RyanMcPhail) March 2, 2014
Heineken will pick a winner from the tweets based on how creative they are, how many retweets it got, its entertainment value, and whether the concept is feasible to fit into a 15-second feature. Once selected, Heineken and the person of the chosen pitch will produce a 15-second short in time for a screening at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24th. Yup, that means pre-production, casting, location scouting, filming, and post production to shoot 140-characters worth of material.
“We’re taking the director from the keyboard to the limelight at Tribeca,” said Folkerts. “We’re encouraging them to open their world.”
After the video has aired at Tribeca, Heineken will then post it to Instagram, and across Twitter and Facebook. They’ll also have a behind-the-scenes documentary on YouTube for those interested to see how much work it actually takes to film a 15-second film.
In total, the campaign received more than 1,800 tweets to the #15secondpremiere hashtag according to social analytics site, Topsy, and more than 850 submissions according to Folkerts.
Image via Flickr
More in Marketing
Retail media’s mid-2025 reality: Why advertisers are going all in on full-funnel
Retail media’s meteoric rise may finally be leveling off — and that’s forcing advertisers to take a harder look at what they’re getting for their money.
TikTok might be working on a standalone U.S. app, but marketers aren’t sold on the idea – yet
TikTok is developing a lifeboat for its American business, but media buyers are wary of advertising implications.
Bold Calls for the back half of 2025
Now’s a good moment as any to take stock —and make a few bold calls about what’s coming next.