Heineken shoots its ads in struggling real bars, paying them as film sets

Authentic, character-rich bars worldwide are struggling with rising costs, regulation and reduced foot traffic. Heineken wanted to support them beyond one-off charity or sponsorship. Meanwhile, the brand's own commercials keep getting built on artificial sets that imitate exactly those bars. LePub and Edelman closed the loop: if ads need bars and bars need money, shoot the ads in the bars.

Under 'Starring Bars', Heineken commercials are filmed in real partner bars, which earn set and location rental budgets plus renovations and visibility. To widen the effect, the partners built a global location catalogue at starringbars.com — floorplans, availability and style filters — pitching the bars to directors and scouts across the entertainment industry, and ran billboards aimed at Hollywood production hubs. Featured bars received physical and digital 'badge of honor' signage.

The initiative drew international press including The Times and the Financial Times, logged 300K+ average ad views per bar location, and was shortlisted in the PR Lions at Cannes Lions 2025 (joint idea credit LePub Milan / Edelman), going on to win Bronze Lions in Entertainment and Creative B2B.

Make bars the film sets; ad budgets become bar rescue

It converts an existing cost (production sets) into the social program — no new budget line needed.

The help is commercial, not charitable: bars earn rental income and lasting exposure, so the model scales.

Opening the catalogue to all productions turns a brand campaign into infrastructure for the whole bar trade.

Real bars make more convincing ads, so creative quality and social impact pull in the same direction.

Look for where your existing spend already touches the people you want to help. Redirecting a budget you were going to spend anyway beats launching a separate charity line.

After its Cannes Lions 2025 PR shortlist and Bronze wins, Starring Bars continued as a global Heineken platform alongside sister 'bar economy' campaigns such as Bar Dating and Backing the Bars, which together anchor the brand's marketing in supporting real venues.