The accolade recognises companies who have distinguished themselves by inspiring innovative, global marketing of their products and who embrace and encourage creativity in their brand communications.
"Creative Marketer of the Year at Cannes Lions is awarded to a company that is breaking the boundaries of creativity and believes that creativity drives business and can improve the state of the world," comments Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals. "Heineken lives and breathes creativity throughout its organisation and has a superb framework that allows its marketing teams the freedom to experiment, while retaining the core essence of its many brands.
"It is testament to the company that in the last three years, six of its brands have won 41 Lions across seven countries including a coveted Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness. It is also a sign of how important creativity is culturally that it is only the second client to have won the award twice since we introduced it in 1992, having previously taken it home in 1995."
In 2013, Heineken took home the Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix for 'Heineken's Legendary Journey: Justifying a Premium the World Over' - the campaign that aimed to grow and position the beer as a global brand. The Creative Effectiveness category celebrates award winning creativity with a proven business impact and, according to Thomas, "represents what brands are looking for - creativity that amplifies their message and increases the power of what they create."
Over the last four years, Heineken has focused the energies of its marketing and commercial communities on creativity to deliver improved business performance. It has launched the Global Commerce University, its mandatory learning programme, run by industry professionals and academics, which all its marketing executives, sales executives and GMs must attend and pass. This initiative has helped place the foundations on which its sustainable creativity linked to innovation and in turn linked to business results has been built.
On top of this, it took steps to streamline the number of agencies that it partners with, resulting in one global lead agency for the brand and ensured consistency across its global campaigns. According to OneEquity, Heineken is the highest rated beer brand equity in the world, showing 5.3% YTD growth at Q3 2014, with strong a performance across all regions.
