Heineken’s “Pub Museums” by LePub, Publicis, Thinkhouse and Lens That
The story behind Cannes Lions multi-award winning campaign.
The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity is to the world of advertising what the Cannes Film Festival is to the film industry. Held annually in Côte d’Azur, it is the premier event for advertising and design, a true mecca of creativity, innovation, and one of the most significant events to attend, especially for those looking to showcase their campaigns. This year’s festival drew 15k attendees over five days, featuring networking, expert talks, special events and the prestigious Lions awards; holy grails of the ad world, winning one is a top honor in the creative industry. With 32 categories, the festival celebrates excellence in design, innovation, use of technology, social, PR, and many more. This year’s edition turned out to be a tremendous success for our studio. Lens That stood out big time when a campaign we worked on with Milan-based LePub and Dublin’s Publicis was awarded with a total of 8 Lions and 10 shortlisted entries. Let’s break it down below, learn about the campaign and get to know the story behind the project.
The idea that sparked the creative process came from the harsh reality that pub owners are facing currently. Over the past decade, Ireland has seen the closure of 10,000 pubs, with a quarter shutting down due to rising costs, taxes, and inflation. And that is where one world-known brand decided to step in, with a mission of enhancing social experiences deeply rooted in their DNA, Heineken fired off a campaign aimed at preserving these iconic cultural institutions for future generations. Together with Milan-based agency LePub, Publicis from Dublin, PR agency Thinkhouse and our studio, Heineken decided to act against the closure of numerous historic Irish pubs and help them to shift their status from being just pubs to becoming places of historical significance, like museums. The latter are eligible for protected status, tax incentives, and financial support from the Irish Heritage Council. Thus, the idea worth 8 Lions was born: to turn historic Irish pubs into virtual museums, ensuring their rich heritage could safeguard their future. With the key message being ‘Visit the past to help preserve the future’ the initiative extended its reach to pubs worldwide, educating owners on ways to protect their own establishments.
Initially, the virtual Pub Museums were introduced in selected pubs across Ireland, which were transformed into virtual museums using augmented reality. That’s where our team stepped in. By leveraging AR technology, we were able to showcase the stories behind the historic watering holes. Once having a pint in any of the pubs, such as Toners Pub in Dublin, Mother Macs Public House in Limerick, and Sean’s Bar in Athlone, apparently the oldest pub in the world, visitors could use their phones to scan a QR code on a plaque outside, triggering an AR overlay that narrated local legends associated with the venue. By integrating indoor navigation with each pub’s geolocation, we took care of creating digital 3D models of historical objects and those of community-building significance within the venues, alongside with audio guides, and brought them back to life! In the end „Pub Museums” gave pubs a tangible way to protect themselves from closure in challenging economic times.
The campaign got incredible recognition at the festival and was awarded with the outstanding number of 4 x Gold Lions, 4 x Silver Lions and 10 Shortlisted entries, including the most prestigious one, the Titanium. Our studio alongside their colleagues from LePub, Publicis and Thinknhouse was awarded in such categories as Tangible & Spatial Technology, Use of Technology and Immersive Experiences, to name a few.
Below, you will find some behind-the-scenes stories of ‘Pub Museums,’ shared by one of the studio partners Aleks Gwizdon in his interview for a marketing media outlet in Poland*.
Campaign Prep
“In each pub, the owners, along with agency representatives, selected several potential exhibits to be digitally enhanced using AR. The studio’s task was to visit each bar, meticulously scan and measure them with our custom-made geolocation system developed within the capabilities given by Snap AR Kit and 8th Wall technology. This allowed us to virtually place the potential exhibits within the mapped space. We scanned more elements in each pub than ultimately used, ensuring the creative team had ample material to craft compelling storytelling for the tour route without limitations from any venue.”
Overview and Implementation
“We started in early 2024, concluding with the final “Pub Museum” opening in late April, the project in its initial phase took around 3 months, surveying pubs in 4 different locations in Ireland and also United Kingdom, discussing the creative part like the content to showcase with agencies, our team began coding the UI (AR effects mechanics) and creating 2D and 3D materials for the virtual museum. The initial development phase was done in our headquarters in Poland, but we had to visit each pub at least once before opening to fine-tune exhibit positioning and behavior. This period was intense as we could only test our 2D and 3D elements’ performance upon arrival in Ireland.”
Key Challenges
“The main challenge was the time, or actually the lack of it. We could only fully gauge the workload upon reaching each site, with fixed deadlines leaving no room for negotiation. However, effective communication with our client and our Polish team, along with seamless coordination with platforms like Snapchat and 8th Wall, enabled us to deliver all three museums on time without compromising on quality. A huge credit is also due to the pub staff who cooperated by opening their doors early and staying late to assist us.”
The complete list of awards:
GOLD
- Engagement: Creative B2B – Brand Experience
- Engagement: Direct – Single-Market Campaign
- Classic: Outdoor – Single-Market Campaign
- Experience: Brand Experience & Activation – Tangible & Spatial Technology
SILVER
- Engagement: PR – Use Of Technology
- Classic: Audio & Radio – Singe-Market Campaign
- Classic: Outdoor – Immersive Experiences
- Experience: Brand Experience & Activation – Brand-Owned Experiences
10 SHORTLISTED ENTRIES
Campaign Credits:
- Agencies: LePub and Publicis Dublin
- LePub Global CEO Global, CCO Publicis Worldwide: Bruno Bertelli
- LePub Global CCO: Cristiana Boccassini
- Global ECD: Eoin Sherry
- Global Creative Director: Jack Christensen
- Creative Director: Stefano Zanoni
- Associate Creative Director: Roberto Ardigò
- Art Director: Flavia Conti
- Copywriter: Cristiana Candido
- Publicis Dublin Board Creative Director: Ger Roe
- Creative Director: Peter Dobbyn
- Senior Art Director: Cormac O’Connor
- XR Creative Studio: Lens That
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*source: Nowy Marketing (https://nowymarketing.pl/odkulis-doswiadczenie-ar-owe-wokol-projektu-pubseum-heinekena/)