The Heineken Refresh Takeover
TYPE & TECH Interactive Music Activation, Crowd Gaming
CLIENT Heineken®
Refresh Your Music, Refresh Your Nights
From the nightlife of bars and clubs to the sun-drenched vibes of festivals, Heineken’s ‘Refresh Takeover’ is set to revolutionise live events under the brand’s ‘Refresh Your Music, Refresh Your Nights’ music platform. Using cutting-edge colour detection software that puts the crowd in control, the Refresh Takeover is designed to allow fans of different cultures, tribes, and music preferences to come together to expand their music tastes through cross-genre music experiences. Teaming up with Heineken and MassiveMusic, we at Solarflare Studio have embarked on a journey to redefine audience participation, offering a refreshing twist to live music.
“Building on our experience delivering large crowd gaming solutions for the likes of TopGear and Samsung, we were delighted to work with Heineken® and MassiveMusic to empower large audiences at festivals and give guests control over the Music Style played. Our solution offers the simplicity of voting by raising their Heineken® in the air, meaning it can be used at huge events for almost no cost. It also offers night time voting with passive, LED wristbands.”
– Stuart Cupit, Chief Technology Officer
Solarflare Studio
Scaling Up the Beat
When the Heineken® Takeover first debuted in 2016, it wowed audiences with its first-of-its-kind interactivity. Integrating seamlessly into the night, the fresh music activation provided the audience with the power to pick between songs by raising their LED wristbands. However, challenges emerged concerning scalability and complexity of setup. With the vision to extend the experience beyond the night and tackle installation hurdles, Solarflare joined forces with MassiveMusic. Together, we set out to refine the voting process, introducing a more flexible approach that aligns with the ambition of globally bursting music bubbles and fostering social connections through music.
Recognising the importance of local relevance, the approach shifted from a binary track comparison model to dynamic voting moments that introduce fans to new and diverse music styles. This new voting system would allow local markets and DJs to curate playlists that resonate with the audience, encouraging exploration of genres they might not typically engage with. The Refresh Takeover evolution facilitates music discovery, bringing people together through interactive show moments, in a streamlined, adaptable cross-genre experience suitable for any country, venue, or hour.
Syncing Day and Night
Our approach aimed to harmonise the Refresh Takeover experience for both day and night events. Introducing a versatile voting system, we empowered guests to choose their tunes effortlessly, by tracking the change in colour during a vote. By day, Heineken® bottles became the voting buttons, seamlessly integrating with the atmosphere. When the sun sets, the LED wristbands take centre stage, controlled by bespoke crowd gaming software that simplifies production setup and enhances accuracy in dark venues.
Utilising a laptop and a strategically positioned 4K camera, our user-friendly setup, complete with customisable UI for entering band names or music styles, equips local AV technicians to create unforgettable Heineken® moments at any point throughout the events for crowds of 500 people through to 12,000. The system shows a real-time interactive voting “swing-o-metre” during each round of votes before announcing a winner, allowing the DJ to respond to the audience.
NIGHTTIME APPROACH
Leveraging the proven LED wristbands, we created bespoke proprietary software to simplify the production set-up. This colour detection software streamlined voting at nighttime or in dark venues by counting the number of raised wristbands, which guests simply switch between red or green, cleverly filtering out non-wristband elements for accuracy.
DAYLIGHT APPROACH
Recognising the wristband limitations in daylight, we developed a novel approach using physical Heineken® bottles as voting buttons. Two sequential voting moments prompted the audience to raise their bottle for their song of choice. By tracking colours specific to products our bespoke software swiftly counts the raised green Heineken® bottles, filters non-moving elements and calculates a winner in real time.
“It’s been incredible collaborating with Heineken® and agency partners to evolve and develop the brand’s global music platform, ‘Refresh Your Music, Refresh Your Nights’. A real highlight of the platform is the all-new Refresh Takeover – an event format that seamlessly integrates into any music setting. It allows fans and DJs to come together to guide their very own unique musical journey. All fans need to do is raise their Heineken® to decide what music they dance to next! We can’t wait to see the continued blending of different genres and styles of music come to life for music fans across the world.”
– Anjali Nazarenko, Brand Activation Director
MassiveMusic
Reimagining Scalable Crowd Control
Through interactive music control, The Heineken® Refresh Takeover redefines audience participation, inviting fans to “Refresh Your Music, Refresh Your Nights”. Merging technology, creativity, and brand engagement, our adaptable evolution has successfully addressed scalability challenges and streamlined installation setups, allowing worldwide markets to edit the music styles relevant to the location, language and character sets. With its ability to be incorporated into an owned event just as easily as an existing concert or festival, the built-in flexibility makes the show experience equally memorable yet unique in any setting where activated. As global events roll out across 2024, this partnership gives DJs a live challenge: to respond in real-time to the style of music fans want to hear next while providing a platform to introduce music lovers to new sounds.
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