Heineken
Creating a legacy
Our inaugural project, initiated in 2003 and to which we gave our name was Heineken Greenspace. An original idea aimed at engaging young adults with a Heineken-owned brand experience was developed with Heineken International in Amsterdam.
It resulted in a ground-breaking, cultural regeneration event that pushed the boundaries of imagination in transmedia and, after the event, a five-year sponsored venue, culminating in a permanent legacy of a fully-renovated cultural space for the city of Valencia.
“This, in my eyes, shows that there is perhaps a new moment where corporations are, or want to be seen to be, generous or unilateral. The whole Greenspace project has been defined in a very clever way.”
Rem Koolhaas — Architect, OMA
In partnership with the City of Valencia in Spain, 2.5 acres of abandoned warehouses were selected to be the location for Heineken Greenspace. 30 musicians, filmmakers and designers, mentored by music producer Matthew Herbert, TV producer Santiago Tabanero and star architect Rem Koolhaas, filled Heineken Greenspace with ideas that interpreted Heineken’s own brand idea, ‘life rewards those that go beyond.’ The cultural festival ran for 2 weeks and became an annual festival until 2010.
Voted ‘Most Contagious Event of the Year’ for 2 years running, Heineken Greenspace achieved €4.7m of media value at its launch, and has since hosted 400+ Heineken branded events.
After 6 years of sponsored event activity, Heineken Greenspace was completely restored and re-launched as Las Naves, a permanent facility for young-adult creative enterprise.
"Greenspace has delivered beyond expectations with their aim for a sustainable space for social interaction."
Walter Drenth — Global Marketing Communications Manager, Heineken
