Heineken launches ‘real-time’ discovery night-out Twitter service, @wherenext

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiUsikDoU1Q

Heineken’s mobile strategy has taken a noteworthy direction with the launch of @wherenext, a  service that uses an R/GA developed algorithm to serve night spots that are trending based on tweets, check-ins and photos across social networks Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare.

All a user has to do is tweet ‘@wherenext’ and their location, for example ‘@wherenext Peckham’ and the service will do the rest. A mobile responsive site can also be accessed for a closer look at the suggestions, including a local  heat map and live Instagram imagery for each venue.

Paul Smailes, global head of digital for Heineken, told Marketing Week:

“The @wherenext service and campaign are the second biggest [marketing] investments for us the year after the Champions League. [The tool] is a long-term play and ties back to our business objective to win in nightlife occasions, which is when we think it will be used most. Mobile is the really big area of focus for Heineken. We want to provide frictionless experiences where consumers are already gathering rather than trying to force them to an app we’ve developed. It’s why we’ve developed something that doesn’t tell you what’s good based on historically data and is tuned into what’s hot right now in the social sphere.”

The service will be actively promoted in a new global campaign over the next four months and will continue to run indefinitely. As part of the push, Heineken has struck a six-month partnership with the Metro newspaper in London to produce a weekly feature, highlighting the best places in London. A “London Hub” will sit on the newspaper’s site to house all the content online.