When the pandemic forced bars across the world to close their shutters in 2020, most beer brands pulled their media budgets and went quiet. Heineken did the opposite. What followed became one of the most commercially intelligent brand support campaigns in advertising history, and it has continued to evolve ever since.
Shutter Ads: Paying Bars to Be the Billboard
During the height of COVID 19 lockdowns, independent bars worldwide faced permanent closure with no timeline for reopening. Heineken, which allocates roughly 10% of its global media budget to outdoor advertising, made a structural decision: redirect that OOH spend away from traditional billboard sites and onto the closed shutters of bars themselves.
The mechanic was straightforward. Heineken paid bar owners in Argentina, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, and Spain to display the brand’s advertising on their facades, windows, and shutters while they remained shut. The copy made the proposition explicit. One headline read: “See this ad today, enjoy this bar tomorrow.” The bar became the media. The media payment became a lifeline.
The campaign, created by Publicis Italy under Heineken’s global #SocialiseResponsibly platform, redistributed €7.5 million directly to the bars involved. Beyond the financial transfer, the non-traditional OOH approach generated 40% more media value than conventional outdoor routes. A total of more than 5,000 bars across five countries participated. Every single one of them reopened.
The industry recognised it accordingly. Shutter Ads won the Grand Prix in Outdoor at Cannes Lions 2021, a Grand Prix and a Silver Lion in total. It also swept Eurobest, winning Grand Prix in both Media and Outdoor, plus additional honours at the LIA Awards and Golden Drum. It was not simply an award-winning campaign. It was a case study in using a brand’s existing media infrastructure as a commercial rescue mechanism for its own trade partners.
Starring Bars: Turning Local Pubs into Film Ready Locations
Heineken did not treat the bar support playbook as a one-time crisis response. In April 2025, the brand launched Starring Bars, a new initiative under the same Back the Bars platform, this time extending the model into the entertainment industry.
The concept targets a different budget line: film and television production. Location rental fees represent a significant portion of any commercial or TV production budget. Heineken, which produces a substantial volume of advertising each year, is committed to prioritising bars that serve its beer as filming locations for those productions, redirecting what would have been standard location fees directly to bar owners.
To make it operational, Heineken built a global catalogue at starringbars.com, offering production teams detailed information, including photos, floor plans, and availability scheduling for each registered bar. The platform is designed to function as a practical tool for location scouts, not a branding exercise. It solves a real problem on both ends: production teams need authentic spaces, and bar owners need additional income streams.
The supporting campaign puts moving billboards on tour through major entertainment hubs, carrying lines directed at the film industry. One reads: “Hey Director, these bars can handle a drama.” The tone matches the strategy. It is an invitation aimed at a specific professional audience rather than a general consumer message.
Bruno Bertelli, global CEO of creative agency LePub, which ideated the initiative, said the aim is to connect the entertainment world with local businesses, put the character of these spaces on screen, and ensure they continue to thrive as community venues. LePub is also the agency behind the campaign’s visual elements, which centre on the stories of the bar owners themselves rather than the product.
The Consistent Logic Behind Both Campaigns
What connects Shutter Ads and Starring Bars is not sentiment. It is structured. In both cases, Heineken identified a budget it was already spending, whether on outdoor media or production location fees, and redirected that spending to go through bar owners rather than around them. The bars get paid. The brand gets the advertising. The spend achieves both objectives simultaneously.
It is the same idea at different scales and in different economic contexts. In 2020, bars needed emergency income to survive lockdown. In 2025, they need diversified revenue to stay viable in a difficult hospitality market. Heineken’s response in each case was to find the mechanism that converts its own operational costs into direct support, rather than running a separate charitable programme alongside its normal business activity.
That distinction is what separates both campaigns from conventional corporate social responsibility activity. The money moves through the bars, not around them.
Campaign Name: Shutter Ads / Starring Bars
Agency Name: Publicis Italy (Shutter Ads) / LePub (Starring Bars)
Brand Name: Heineken
Location: Global
