Heineken is a leading pub, cider, and beer business, with over 80,000 employees worldwide and 2,400 dedicated to UK operations. As a Digital Commerce Manager, Kirsten Humphrey manages Heineken’s B2B communications and digital marketing for their products.
The pandemic had huge consequences for the industry, and on the importance of digital commerce in particular. Throughout lockdowns and reopenings, the situation was changing rapidly and Heineken needed to relay urgent information to staff and partners.
Recognized for her comms expertise, Kirsten started helping with internal communication to distribute information about the operational impact of lockdown.
“Because there was so much information,” Kirsten needed to deliver constant updates, raise awareness, and offer support — in a format her audience would notice and engage with.
A pressing need for engaging communication formats
“If I sent out a 1-page PDF, no one would read that,” explains Kirsten. Sharing Powerpoint content on their internal collaboration platform, Workplace, wasn’t cutting it, either. She tried everything to boost engagement — Camtasia, Canva, and even adding animations to her Powerpoint presentations.
But nothing matches the power of video. Kirsten loves using it to communicate internally with sales teams: “I can share a lot of information quickly in a snappy 30-second video… for sales engagement, video’s the best.”
Whether communicating internally or with customers, Kirsten’s team had to use agencies to make a real impact with video. Not only was it a strain on their budget, but these videos also took weeks to produce and quickly became outdated. Her team was asked to make savings and something had to give.
That’s when Kirsten received an email from PlayPlay that really hit home. Need to create more videos, with less budget, in less time? Sign us up! Kirsten’s team tried the 7-day free trial and created 8 videos, instantly falling in love with:
- How easy PlayPlay is to use: in just a few hours they can create a slick, agency-quality video, ready to be shared.
- The video template library: PlayPlay has 100s of readymade templates to inspire their next video, and a drag & drop interface that makes creation simple.
“Before, we used agencies to create videos for internal communication. It would cost us anything from £3,000-7,000 per video, so we could only create a few. Now we create around 8 videos per month, and it only costs the price of an annual license.”
One video creation platform, many topics to communicate about
“I love how fast it is to create videos with PlayPlay. Before, it would take weeks from the creative brief to the actual delivery of the video by the agency. Now it’s just a matter of hours and the videos look just as good!”
Adopted by the whole team, PlayPlay has become a key internal communication asset for Heineken UK. Kirsten now achieves the sales engagement she had been hoping for, for example when she creates eye-catching “how-to” tutorial videos to educate her colleagues about using Heineken’s new e-commerce platform.
Kirsten’s team uses PlayPlay to produce snappy ‘project update’ videos, keeping colleagues informed and up to date. These videos get more views than her Powerpoint presentations, and information is flowing far more effectively within the organization.
Video is the go-to format when Heineken communicates on its commitments to issues such as gender equality. They created an internal video for International Women’s Day, featuring short interviews with senior management expressing their views on the topic. It was so popular, many employees decided to share it on social media. And it was the first video Kirsten’s team ever created with PlayPlay!
PlayPlay’s ‘wow-factor’ is clear. Where did you get that video?... You created it?! How did you create it? Now, Kirsten is flooded with requests: “lots of people want to get videos made for all sorts of things!”
More videos, less spend, higher engagement
“We’ve definitely seen more engagement with videos we post on Workplace than with static content: we have more views, likes and comments. I think there is a perception that if someone took the time to make the video, then the topic is probably important.”
Since Heineken UK started using PlayPlay for internal communication, the benefits have been conclusive:
- More videos created: from 1-2 expensive agency-produced videos per month, to 8+ videos a month
- Less time spent on video creation: with PlayPlay, they spend far less time creating videos compared to briefing agencies, exchanging feedback, and waiting for the final version. What took weeks can now be done in a matter of days.
- Less budget spent on video creation: the International Women’s Day video would have cost around £6000. With PlayPlay, they can create as many videos as they want!
- More engagement with internal comms: videos are achieving more engagement than static content, and now they can create more of them to share via Workplace, MS Teams, or by email… Whatever the distribution channel, they’re getting more views, comments, and shares than ever before.
Video editing with PlayPlay has already “become a core capability” in Kirsten’s team. Following the popularity of their internal videos, Kirsten jokes that they’ve become a victim of their own success: “we don’t have time to create videos for the whole business!”
Kirsten is sure more Heineken UK teams will start using PlayPlay to keep up with this demand, especially project teams, corporate communications, and the sales support department. Her advice? “Get your own PlayPlay license!”
