Beer brand uses solar-powered billboard to cool Brazil’s beer

The aim? To cool the beer being served in the bar below, using the roof-mounted billboard. In addition, the solar panels power the billboard itself.

“This billboard is cooling your Heineken. Cheers,” says the [translate from Portuguese] text on the billboard.

The timing of the unveiling coincides with the Rock in Rio Brasil music festival being held in the seaside city.

Using music festival crowds to promote green energy

“We want to take advantage of all the activity going on in Rio de Janeiro during the days of the festival to draw attention to our Heineken Green Energy programme,” explained Eduardo Picarelli, a senior executive with Heineken in Brazil.

“The solar panels that cool the beer create a connection with the audience in an innovative way, inviting people to start an important dialogue in a totally different way.”

Felipe Cury, Chief Creative Officer of Le Pub Brazil, Heineken’s creative agency and part of the Publicis Groupe, said the two businesses worked closely to “challenge and create innovation”. 

“Turning solar panels into billboards to communicate [Heineken’s] green energy programme is one more example of the ways we are innovating with the brand … Heineken as a leading brand is constantly looking to the future and how to get to people in unexpected ways.”

The beer brand has a wide-ranging green energy strategy in the South American country. For example, three breweries there operate on 100% green energy, with a fourth scheduled to come on line next year.

There is also a Green Your City campaign that promotes green energy usage in major Brazilian cities.