Heineken’s Work Responsibly campaign continues, this time with a hilarious ghostly activation in collaboration with global Korean actor, Park Hyung Sik.
While ‘ghosting’ is a term used typically in dating, according to the latest YouGov survey commissioned by Heineken, one of the most common reasons (46.5%) why people ‘ghost’ their friends in Singapore and Malaysia is due to their work commitments.
On top of that, 64.5% feel burned out at work, while 42.5% revealed that work has caused strains in their relationship with their friends and partners.
So Heineken and Le Pub APAC’s work began with Park sharing a video on Instagram that appeared to show paranormal activity in a bar — beer glasses moving on their own, chairs sliding across the room. Fans were spooked, but the reveal showed that the haunting bar experience was all part of Heineken’s supernatural The Ghosted Bar campaign, which highlights how a friend stuck in the office is a ghost at the bar, leaving friends hanging out with their ‘ghost’ instead.
Along with the teaser video shared by Park Hyung Sik, which achieved more than 4 million views in 24 hours, a squad of more than 15 influencers from Singapore and Malaysia amplified the content of the global Korean actor by sharing it on their Instagram and Tik Tok profiles. By Monday, the content had 6.5 million views.
“Through this meaningful project by Heineken, we want to encourage employees to start working responsibly,” Park Hyung Sik commented. “We should enjoy our social life and not let it be impacted by our work.”
With activations in Singapore and Malaysia, the campaign reminds employees to finish work on time and socialise with friends at a new ‘haunt’ in town. In Singapore, Heineken is hosting a ‘ghosted bar’ experience on April 19. In Malaysia, 40 paranormal ‘ghosted bar’ experiences will take place across the country, gently spooking people into working responsibly and not ghosting their friends. Heineken and Le Pub have also created an online Ghost Generator, which can be used to remind friends to leave work on time by vaporising them into ghosts.
“Ghosted Bar is an amazing new chapter dedicated to the #WorkResponsibly platform that is raising awareness of the sensitive work-life balance issue around the world. Heineken has always encouraged and fostered socialisation and healthy human connections as we feel that workers need to embrace more social and leisure time. We’re thrilled to bring this platform to Singapore and Malaysia as a reminder to leave your duties on time and not let your social life fall behind,” commented Bram Westenbrink, global head, Heineken Brand.
One reason for overworking that’s unique to the APAC region is a prevalent workplace culture of presenteeism — that niggling feeling of guilt over leaving work on time despite finishing the day’s work or feeling obligated to stay back until managers leave. 59% of employees in Singapore and Malaysia agree that while their employers value work-life balance and encourage them to take time off, they still do not see improvement in their social life and often find themselves ‘ghosting’ their friends because of work. This is because employees (68.5%) find themselves unable to reject extra work given to them — 73% are afraid to reject extra work because they were assigned by their seniors/managers while 41% are afraid that it will affect their promotions as they will be deemed as “lazy”.
Together with Park Hyung Sik, Heineken wants to encourage a refreshed mindset towards this culture of overworking in Singapore and Malaysia, and remind employees of the importance of working responsibly and not letting their friends down by ‘ghosting’ them so often because of work.
“When you don’t leave work on time for fear of letting down your co-workers or because of societal pressures, you let someone else down – your friends. Heineken’s Ghosted Bar campaign reminds us to leave the office after an honest day at work to live your social life at its fullest. This is what #WorkResponsibly is all about. By collaborating with global Korean actor Park Hyung Sik, the brand is encouraging people to clock off work on time, prioritize and acknowledge self-care, and rebuild work culture from a well-being perspective,” stated Bruno Bertelli, global chief executive officer of Le Pub, global chief creative officer of Publicis Worldwide, chief creative officer of Publicis Groupe Italy.
The Ghosted Bar is the third #WorkResponsibly campaign to launch from Heineken. It follows the launch of The Closer (June 2022) and The Office Cleaners (December 2022).
Credits:
Client: Heineken Global
Senior Director Global Heineken® Brand: Bram Westenbrink
Communication Directors: Daniela Iebba & Agnieszka Gorecki
Digital Director: Rob van Griensven
Communication Manager: Tanya Lubis
Digital Development Manager: Pearly Lim
Heineken APAC Brand & Business Development Director: Rajeev Sathyesh
PR Lead: Jonathan O’Lone
Client: Heineken Malaysia
Head of Marketing: Willemijn Sneep
Senior Brand Manager, Heineken: Julie Kuan
Brand Manager, Heineken: Jen Lyn Sin
Junior Brand Manager, Heineken: Natasha Ng
PR Manager: Salini Muniandy
Client: Heineken Singapore
Marketing Director: Gerald Yeo
Premium Brands Marketing Manager: Benjamin Kwek
Heineken Brand Manager: Odelia Ling
Brand PR & Communications Manager: Tan Li Lyn
Agencies: Public Italy/Le Pub, Le Pub APAC
Global CEO Le Pub, Global CCO Publicis Worldwide, CCO Publicis Groupe Italy: Bruno Bertelli
Chief Creative Officers: Cristiana Boccassini & Mihnea Gheorghiu
Chief Creative Officer LePub Singapore: Cyril Louis
Global Executive Creative Directors: Eoin Sherry & Andrey Tyukavkin
Global Creative Director: Jack Christensen
Creative Director LePub Singapore: Sergey Mast
Creative Director: Stefano Zanoni
Associate Creative Directors lePub Singapore: Yuste De Luca & Rudy Zulkifly
Associate Creative Directors: Roberto Ardigò & Geo Joseph
Art Director LePub Singapore: Andrew Nicholas Yap
Art Director LePub Singapore: William Walter Watters
Copywriter: David Casares
Head of Creative Technology: Mauro Mazzei
Global Head of PR & Communication: Isabella Cecconi
PR Manager: Eleonora Botta
Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer: Charles Laporte
Aust Global Strategy Director: Monica Radulescu
Global Data Strategist: Ilko Petkov
Senior Experience Strategist: Antonio Jorgaqi
Global Head of Social&Content: Valentina Salaro
Social Media Manager: Lara Simoniello
Junior Social Media Manager: Daniele Benvenuti
Global Client Service Director: Paola Natellis
General Manager lePub Singapore: Hanh Kanssen
Group Account Director: Ilaria Castiglioni
Group Account Director lePub Singapore: Tammy Tan
Account Director: Gonzalo Gutiérrez Gauna
Account Supervisor: Marta Dell’Adami
Account Manager Publicis Korea: Donggun Kim
Account Intern LePub Singapore: Marian Govin
Chief Creation Officer: Francesca Zazzera
Producer: Donovan del Rosario
Producer: Mariella Maiorano
Media: MSL SINGAPORE
Production Companies: The Usual Suspects Pictures & Unboxnow
Director: Thay Littichai
Executive Producer: Arunwan So (Siw Siw)
Producers: Ramon Patamalikitsakul (Kaew) & M.Rifdi
DP: Kuba Lubniewski
Art Director: Aloysious Norman
Stylist: Sabrina Simone Tan
Editor Director’[s Cut: Pang Wei Fong
Editor: Simon Tan
Grading: Azman Mohamed
Online: Prodigious
Music: Dahouse Audio
The Ghosted Bar Event in Singapore: Popper
Creative Director: Justin Seow
Design Lead: Balerie Ngo
Designer: Eric Wong
Senior Account Manager: Suzanne Woon
Account Manager: Kyleen Ng
Account Executive: Alexandra Stewart
Account Executive: Eugene Ang
Operations Manager: Kelvin Wang
Operations Executive: Foo Chuan Shen
Tech Lead: Ting Lee
Tech Director: Justin Leo
Tech Project Director: Raja Muhamad Danial
Frontend Developer: Eric Gor
Frontend/Backend Developer: Naufal Hafizi
Creative Technology Agency: Bureau Beatrice
CEOs & Co-Founders: Kevin Alderweireld & Jon S. Maloy
Creative Director: Bernardo Moreira
