Heineken® is launching ‘TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3’, a custom-made PC integrated with a Heineken® beer fridge thanks to an innovative cooling system. It is designed to cool down both the PC hardware and the bottles inside, so gamers can enjoy a cold Heineken® while playing their favourite game.
This is the latest instalment of the ‘Not All Nights Out are Out’ campaign, launched in March this year, to highlight the importance of making the most of the moments of socialisation within the gamer culture, focusing on the connection between players and the brand.
“TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3 is yet another unique tool for us to communicate our ‘Not All Nights Out are Out’ campaign, which shows that gaming and socialising are connected”, said Igor de Castro, senior marketing manager for the Heineken® 0.0 brand in Brazil. “We are very excited to bring this innovation to the public, players and consumers alike, connecting even more with the gamer community and giving them the chance to have a customised, themed PC and enjoy a cold Heineken® or Heineken® 0.0 with their favourite games”.
To bring this technology to life, Heineken® partnered with its ad hoc creative advertising agency, LePub Brazil. "Heineken® is able to provide moments of socialisation wherever it is, and this is the brand's mission, in addition to breaking stereotypes. TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3 is yet another action of this kind, bringing a conviviality to the gamer universe, both appreciating this moment and showing that the gamer universe is extremely social, that Heineken® 0,0 and games really go well together.
Especially since you need to cool both beer and hardware and Heineken® really mastered the former”, explained Felipe Cury, chief creative officer of LePub Brazil.
The device repurposes a Heineken® 0,0 fridge to allocate a fully working custom PC build within the space usually reserved for beer bottles. The setup allows the fridge to cool down both the hardware and the beer bottles, providing a controlled temperature environment for both.
To solve the technical challenges of combining a PC build with a fridge, the team reached out to LeGarage, LePub’s Innovation and Gaming Hub. The team engineered a custom cooling system that would maintain a low temperature whilst the PC is working and combine it with forced air circulation to prevent condensation. The result was the perfect setup to enjoy a night of gaming with friends with a cool game and a cold beer.
“We wanted to click with a segment of gamers that few brands usually consider: PC gamers”, said Andrey Tyukavkin, executive creative director of LeGarage and lead engineer of the project. “And within the PC gaming community, we wanted to appreciate a culture of “modders” - people who customise their builds, modify the design and architecture of the machine, and socialise by sharing their specs and unique looks with each other. Really amazing and weird things have come out of that trend, and we saw that several creators had been attempting to make a working beer fridge that could run a PC build. So we knew this was something gamers wanted and something that would resonate with the community and with the culture.”
TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3, will imply several activations through the following months for fans to get their hands on the limited edition of TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3. Heineken has partnered with Gaules, Brazil’s top Twitch streamer, to host a giveaway among his 4 million followers on his channel. The device will also make a special appearance on the Brazilian revamped Twitch show ‘Aprovado’, to celebrate Heineken’s 150th anniversary. To crown the campaign, Heineken 0,0 will be present at the award ceremony organised by the CBLoL 2023 – the biggest League of Legends competition in Brazil – in Autumn, as one of the main sponsors of the championship, to reward the winning team with a set of TH3 G4M1NG FR1DG3.