Crack The Case
- Brand
- Heineken
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Adventure & Quest
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- The Mill
- With
- Monks
Objective
With Skyfall marking Daniel Craig's first appearance in a Heineken ad and the franchise's 50th anniversary, Heineken wanted more than a tie-in spot — it wanted fans to feel like part of the story. The campaign extended the TV commercial into a digital experience where viewers could step into Bond's world themselves and share the result.
Solution
The experience picks up right where the TV spot ends: the player logs in with Facebook or uploads a photo, and their own face is dropped into the film's scenes as the villains address them directly. Sévérine invites them aboard a train crossing snowy mountains, where they work through a string of challenges — puzzles, run-ins with hostile Russian agents, and guarding a silver case Bond left at the bar — before entering the final combination to crack it open. The whole run takes about 4–5 minutes and ends with a personalized trailer the player can share with friends.
- 1
A TV spot shows a Heineken hero on a train being mistaken for James Bond, then cuts off with an invitation to continue the story online.
- 2
The player launches the experience from Heineken's Facebook page or a local brand site, logging in with Facebook or uploading a photo; that photo is used throughout the rest of the game.
- 3
The scene resumes exactly where the video left off, with Sévrine inviting the player into a train carriage.
- 4
The player moves through train cars styled after classic Bond production design and referencing props from the films, meets recurring villains, and solves a series of puzzles to protect a silver case while the villains address the player by their own photographed face.
- 5
Solving the puzzles yields a combination that opens the case, closing out a playthrough of roughly four to five minutes.
- 6
On completion, the player receives a personalized trailer built around their photo, which can be shared with friends.
- 7
An offline version at the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam runs the same online game inside a physical train-carriage installation, with window screens and table-embedded terminals.
- 8
In South Africa, players additionally hunt for codes published across print, online, outdoor ads, and real-time missions, then register via Facebook to enter them for a grand prize.
