Heineken imagined social media without an audience to get people offline

Heineken asked what would happen to influencers if everyone stopped scrolling and went out with friends instead.

Social Off Socials imagined exactly that situation. The global campaign placed Joe Jonas and several prominent creators inside a world where their feeds had become empty because their followers were too busy socialising in real life.

Created by LePub Milan, the campaign used the people most closely associated with online attention to deliver a message about spending less time online.

Empty feeds left influencers with nobody to influence

The campaign film presents a humorous, slightly dystopian version of social media without an audience.

Creators accustomed to likes, views and comments suddenly discover that nobody is watching. Their attempts to attract attention become pointless because their followers have stepped away from their screens.

Joe Jonas appears alongside creators including Dude With Sign, Lil Cherry and Paul Olima. Each participant brings a recognisable part of online culture into the story, helping the absence of digital engagement feel more noticeable.

The joke is not that social media has disappeared. It is that people have found something more interesting to do away from it.

Heineken used creators to question creator culture

Influencers were an intentionally ironic choice for the campaign. Their careers depend on remaining visible online, yet they were asked to encourage audiences to put their phones down.

Instead of criticising social media or presenting technology as inherently harmful, Heineken focused on balance. The campaign suggested that taking a break becomes easier when people have a rewarding alternative in front of them.

Creators also published short films through their own channels, extending the campaign’s message inside the platforms it was questioning.

The approach allowed Heineken to reach people while they were scrolling and invite them to continue the experience somewhere else.

Joe Jonas released a song away from social media

The campaign launched with an offline event at Bleecker Street Bar in New York City.

Joe Jonas and Dude With Sign posed inside windows designed to resemble Instagram Reels. The visual recreated the appearance of a social post in a physical space, allowing people to encounter the content without opening an app.

Jonas also debuted his song “Heart by Heart” for the audience before releasing it through digital channels. Part of its music video was filmed during the event, placing the people inside the bar at the centre of the moment.

Guests included models Martha Hunt and Graice Carvalho, baseball player Luke Weaver, Ivy Getty and creators Lil Cherry and Paul Olima.

By launching the music in a bar instead of through a feed, Heineken demonstrated its message rather than only advertising it.

Research showed how much time people spend online

The campaign was informed by a Heineken-commissioned study involving 17,000 adults of legal drinking age across nine countries.

The research found that the average participant spent approximately five hours and 48 minutes looking at a device each day. Across a year, that added up to around 88 days.

More than half of respondents said they felt overwhelmed by the pressure to keep up with social media. Another 51% said online interaction could drain their social battery, increasing to 62% among Gen Z.

However, 79% said they looked at their phones less when they were out socialising. This finding provided the campaign with its central argument: the simplest way to spend less time on social media may be to have something worthwhile happening in real life.

The campaign turned a bar into the original social network

Heineken described itself as “the real social network since 1873,” connecting the campaign’s digital theme with the brand’s history of bringing people together over drinks.

The line positioned bars and other shared spaces as social networks that existed long before feeds, followers and notifications.

Social Off Socials did not ask people to abandon digital communication completely. It presented offline socialising as a necessary counterpart to it.

The message appeared across television, outdoor, digital media and social platforms, beginning in the United States before expanding into the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

By imagining influencers without anyone left to influence, Heineken turned an empty feed into an invitation to go out.

Credits

Social Off Socials, 2025. Client Heineken. Chief Commercial Officer Bram Westenbrink. Head of Global Heineken Brand Nabil Nasser. Global Brand Strategy and Communication Director Daniela Iebba. Creative agency LePub Milan. Global CEO of LePub and CCO of LePub Worldwide Bruno Bertelli. Global Chief Creative Officer Cristiana Boccassini. Global Co-Chief Creative Officer Mihnea Gheorghiu. Global Executive Creative Director and Chief Invention Officer Andrey Tyukavkin. Executive Creative Directors Eoin Sherry and Felipe Ferreira. Creative Directors Corina Patraucean and Rainor Marinho. Senior Copywriter Cristiana Candido. Senior Art Director Ines Mota. Film production by Prettybird, directed by Bradley & Pablo, with cinematography by Nico Poulsson. Local production by MR Films Cape Town and postproduction by Prodigious. Global PR by The Romans. Influencer agency Billion Dollar Boy. Media by Dentsu. Event production by Articulate with PR support from MBooth. Featuring Joe Jonas, Dude With Sign, Lil Cherry and Paul Olima.