WORK: Heineken encourages us to talk about life over a beer in new ad

For its new campaign ‘Open Your World’, Heineken has released an ad it describes as a ‘social experiment’. The film sees a group of strangers invited to have one-on-one conversations with each other while performing a series of tasks and then sharing a beer. What they don’t know at the outset is that each duo has strongly opposing views, which they have expressed to camera before meeting their colleague for the experiment. The situation is deeply contrived – was the klaxon really necessary? – but what the exercise proves is how easily the participants were able to find common ground and understanding of one another when they spent time together. A lesson for us all in these fractured times, perhaps.

The campaign will continue with a series of events created in partnership with The Human Library, a unique not-for-profit organisation that uses conversation to challenge stereotypes. More info is at humanlibrary.org.

Agency: Publicis UK; Global chief creative officer: Bruno Bertelli; ECDs: Dave Monk, Cristiana Boccassini; Global digital creative director: Milos Obradovic; Creative director: Marcus Iles; Creatives: Seb Howling, Dom Desmond, Mark Daw, Rudhraigh McGrath; Production company: RSA; Director: Toby Dye