By Felicia Nwosu
Heineken, the world’s second largest brewer, has taken a new dive to offer a product from a new category in collaboration with street culture tastemaker Bodega, as they launch “The Boring Phone”.
The newly introduced brand is produced by Human Mobile Devices (HMD) and it is designed to refocus attention on real connections and offline experience.
The Dutch brewing company said it is on a mission to make smartphones dull with ‘The Boring Phone’, adding that the launch will help people discover there is more to their social life when there is less on their phone.
It further revealed that in a world where smartphones are becoming too interesting, ‘The Boring Phone’ takes things back to basics with no access to the internet, social media or other apps
The product extension by Heineken into the world of communication is in the bid to expand its existing product line in the phone category. Heineken is employing this tactic to increase its reach and target audience by building its traction on its existing market.
In his comment, Nabil Nasser, the Global Head of Heineken, explained that the project, in collaboration with street fashion firm, Bodega featured a limited run of ‘dumb’ phones designed to have reduced tech capabilities.
According to him, it has been created to encourage people to enjoy better real-life connections on nights out by disconnecting from their smartphones.
“At Heineken, we want to foster moments of genuine connection and help people experience the joy of true togetherness.
In creating the ‘Boring Phone’ we have gone back to basics, we have dialed down the tech to help people truly connect over a beer, without any distraction from the constant buzzing and dings.”
Oliver Mak, co-founder of Bodega also stated that the Heineken x Bodega Boring Phone strips back the distractions of today’s smartphones and that its functions are to send messages and make calls but it is unable to download social media or other apps.
“Despite having grown up surrounded by technology, us Gen Z and Millennials are now recognising that our dependence on our phones is impacting our ability to make actual, real-life connections. This in turn impacts our ability to have fun, and on a macro level, the development of culture. Smartphones can be too interesting, so we wanted to design a boring one,” he added.
Meanwhile, some brand analysts in Nigeria have averred that Heineken is venturing into the new category to augment its sales since its beer category is currently witnessing low sales due to inflationary trends.
