Heineken taps the senses with multisensory 'Ahhh-fterwork' campaign in Indonesia

In Jakarta’s fast-paced urban sprawl, where commuting and overtime bleed into personal hours, Heineken is attempting to reclaim afterwork time with a sensorial twist. The brand’s latest campaign, dubbed Ahhh-fterwork, is a multisensory manifesto, weaving together aroma, visuals, sound, touch and taste to reframe how office workers wind down.

Backed by findings from The Weekender 2024, which revealed that over half of Greater Jakarta’s workforce regularly endures long commutes and late nights, Heineken is positioning afterwork hours as something worth celebrating, not surviving.

“Ahhh-fterwork highlights the importance of quality social moments - especially amid routines that often make afterwork hours slip by unnoticed. In fact, this is the perfect time to recharge and reconnect with the people around us,” said Jessica Setiawan, marketing director at Multi Bintang Indonesia, part of The HEINEKEN Company.

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She added that the campaign aims to introduce Heineken’s Star Quality Brewing Process and Ingredients through a series of multisensory activities designed to engage all five senses - smell, hearing, sight, taste, and touch - running from July to September.

The programme kicked off with a focus on scent - an immersive brewery experience showcasing Heineken’s Star Quality Brewing Process, where participants could smell the natural ingredients - malted barley, hops, and pure water - at the heart of its brewing ritual. The tour emphasised the brand’s use of horizontal tanks and A-Yeast fermentation over 28 days to achieve Heineken’s signature consistency.

Moving from scent to sight and sound, the campaign took over Black Owl in Pantai Indah Kapuk on 1 August for International Beer Day. Guests were treated to a dynamic visual installation and audio performance designed to bring Heineken’s brewing philosophy to life - complete with immersive environments and the brand’s signature perfect pouring ritual.

In a more tactile iteration, Heineken will collaborate with Museum MACAN between 4-14 September, inviting guests to physically engage with the textures of the brand’s natural ingredients through an interactive art installation. The finale takes a culinary turn: from 23-26 September, Fomo Bar will host an omakase dining experience inspired by the stages of Heineken’s brewing process, crafted to activate the sense of taste in surprising ways.

While rooted in brand storytelling, the Ahhh-fterwork series is also a soft cultural critique - an acknowledgment that leisure in Jakarta is often sidelined. In wrapping its brewing heritage with art, food, and design, Heineken is hoping to reinsert joy and presence into the Indonesian afterwork ritual.

As Setiawan noted, the point isn’t just to relax, but to reconnect - “celebrating taste, creativity, and togetherness” in a way that lingers longer than a pint.

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