Heineken has announced the outcome of a review of its global marketing agency ecosystem, appointing a new group of creative, production and media partners to accelerate the next phase of growth for its portfolio of global, flagship brands.

Following a competitive bidding process, Heineken retained Dentsu as its global media agency and Publicis as its global secondary production partner. The global creative team has been consolidated into three holding companies: Publicis, WPP, and Stagwell. Creative for the Heineken brand was not included in this review and continues to be managed by Publicis.

"This," explains Bram Westenbrink , Chief Commercial Officer at Heineken, "represents a significant step in Heineken's EverGreen 2030 growth strategy and our ambition to build a leaner, more effective, and future-proof agency model designed to deliver greater creative impact, operational efficiency, and consistency at scale. The shift to fewer, higher-quality, larger agency partners is part of our broader commercial transformation, led by Freddy Ai."

Freddy Ai, as we recall, is the next step in the digital transformation journey presented in October 2025 at the time of the unveiling of the long-term vision with EverGreen 2030 (read the EFA News article): Freddy.ai is the new in-house agency that integrates artificial intelligence into creative and marketing processes. The name, inspired by founder Freddy Heineken , embodies the ambition to combine the brand's pioneering legacy with cutting-edge technologies: the in-house agency is conceived as a true internal agency that provides marketing and brand management teams with generative artificial intelligence tools for the creation of content, concepts, and campaigns.

The newly launched marketing structure ensures that Heineken's global brands, Amstel, Birra Moretti, Desperados, and Tiger, as well as a number of priority local brands, are supported by a focused group of strategic partners, enabling stronger brand building through deeper collaboration and greater consistency and scalability across all markets.

"Our new agency ecosystem," emphasizes Jorn Socquet , Senior Director, Global Brand Impact & Growth Transformation at Heineken, "is a key enabler for realizing our ambition to build stronger, more distinctive brands at scale. By partnering with a smaller number of world-class agencies, we're creating the conditions for deeper collaboration, greater strategic focus, and more impactful creativity. At the same time, this model allows us to operate with greater speed and efficiency, ensuring the consistent delivery of high-quality work for our portfolio of brands globally and locally. We are grateful to all the participating agencies for their commitment throughout this long process. The quality of thought, creativity, and talent demonstrated has been exceptional."

The transition to the new agency model will begin immediately, with a phased implementation aligned with brand planning cycles to ensure business continuity and stability across all markets.

The announcement of the newly launched marketing campaign, the brewery's official statement emphasizes, reflects Heineken's ongoing commitment to long-term brand investment, marketing innovation, and building a more connected and effective marketing ecosystem globally.