In L2's inaugural Digital IQ Index®: Hair Beer released yesterday, Heineken bested 49 other premium, import, light, popular and craft brews to take the No 1 spot in the study.
![4Hoteliers Image Library](https://www.4hoteliers.com/images/4HIL_13630536921.jpg)
Unlike some of the other digitally-savvy verticals L2 has assessed like Beauty and Retail (both of which had a majority of brands with Digital IQs in the Gifted/Genius categories), Beer brands for the most part are lagging.
In this year's report, just Heineken and No. 2 Budweiser, earned Genius titles. What can other beer brands learn from their example? Quite a lot, given that Heineken excelled in all four areas that L2 measures: Site, Digital Marketing, Social Media and Mobile.
Some of the brand's most outstanding efforts, include:
As part of its partnership with the
James Bond franchise, Heineken launched the interactive online game "
Crack The Case," which operates as part of a larger campaign of the same name and is hosted on both Heineken.com and via a dedicated tab on Facebook. The game's most creative feature is its ability, through Facebook Connect, to access users' profile pictures and other data, which is then incorporated into the storyline.
![4Hoteliers Image Library](https://www.4hoteliers.com/images/4HIL_13630561091.jpg)
"Crack The Case" was just one facet of a multi-platform campaign for the film that spanned mobile, social media, television, and product placement. Heineken reaped big rewards for their efforts, gaining almost 1 million Facebook fans in just two weeks–a 12 percent increase.
On the social media front, Heineken had very little competition, nabbing the
top spot for most Facebook fans, most Facebook engagement, most Twitter followers (aggregate global feeds), biggest YouTube community, and most individual YouTube channel views. In fact, Heineken is so dominant on YouTube that its biggest competitor on the platform, Budweiser, had less than half of Heineken's views when data was collected last month.
Search is another area where Heineken distanced itself from the rest of the crowd. on average, brands in the Index control less than one-quarter of organic search on Google's first-page search results. Heineken, on the other hand, controls 60 percent–the most of any brand in the Index.
Heineken also significantly upgraded its site over the past year, allowing for greater data capture and account personalization. To tailor the experience, users are given personal preferences determined by a series of comprehensive questionnaires and "Have"/"Save" product page buttons. Synthesizing all of this information with observed behavior, Heineken is able to provide each user with a unique site experience populated with his/her favored products, articles, and videos.
For more information on Heineken's digital competence as well as key findings involving the other 49 beer brands in our 2013 Digital IQ Index:
Beer report, please visit our research page HERE.