I got a kick out seeing the item featuring hired media magnet sitcommer Wilmer Valderrama at the NYC launch for Heineken Premium Light Beer. What do you think it cost the Dutch to mount this event at Jazz at Lincoln Center? Between the food, so-over-the-top venue, fab B-listers and the PR Newswire posting , it had to be a pretty penny. Hey, at least the beer flowed freely.
Brand Republic has the campaign pegged at $50 million, the most ever for a light beer launch. Big viral piece too.
And the ROI for the PR? Well, I guess the lead item in Bold Faced Names tempered the brewer’s sticker shock. After all, Wilmer was fortuitously linked this week to our favorite under-aged and over-exposed lush, Lindsey.
Even Kid Rock showed up, apparently without a financial incentive: “I don’t know anything about the party,” he said, still grinning. “I’m just staying across the street.”