Heineken knows how to make an entrance.

Heineken’s latest global campaign launched late last year, but it wasn’t until October that it started to get airplay in Australia.

It’s nothing short of brilliant. A cinematic masterpiece! Probably some of the best work I’ve seen in a long time. I guess it’s no surprise seeing as though it was produced by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam. Anything they touch seems to turn to gold..

If you thought you knew how to arrive at a party in style, think again. The film features a man who demonstrates the ultimate party entrance and focuses on his interactions with all the guests, which are all pretty spectacular. The man is seen charming his way past a gun-wielding oilman, a Russian canary, and a kung fu assassin, before getting his flute out on stage with the smoking-hot lead singer of the Asteroids Galaxy Tour; the Danish band’s latest single, The Golden Age, provides the sizzling backing track to the film.

What I love about this campaign is that it totally plays on the fantasies of the modern male. We all wish we lived our lives with unlimited social and physical potency. We all want to see that look of absolute desire in the eyes of  beautiful women everyday. We wish our lives were as exciting and glamorous as the hero’s life is portrayed in the ad. Men have always wished for that.

Sadly, adulthood never really turns out to be so glamorous and we find ourselves yielding to the never-ending, numbing and constricting responsibilities of everyday life..

Heineken has created a myth for men to buy in to. A myth that by drinking their beer, they too can live out this story of social and physical potency. It might sound like a stretch, but that’s simply how iconic brands work. They find cultural contradictions in society (desires, tensions and anxieties) and develop myths or stories that provide some sense of relief for those desires, tensions and anxieties. Consumers therefore relive the stories when they consume the brand’s products. If none of this makes sense, read Doug Holt’s How Brands Become Icons. He is a genius and his book has totally changed the way I look at advertising and branding.

I must admit, this campaign totally worked on me! And I consider myself a very cynical person when it comes to advertising. That’s what happens to you when you work in marketing for a while. I’ve never really been a Heineken drinker. I’ve always considered them to be too mainstream. Too mass produced. Too commercial. Instead I prefer craft brews made by smaller, local manufacturers. Wow I sound like such a hipster! But after watching this ad a few times, I did find myself ordering a Heineken or two (or three) while I’ve been out on the town, wishing my night would somehow become as exciting and glamorous as the brand’s myth.