Presentation
Exhibitions and loans
Exhibitions and loans Exhibitions and loans Exhibitions and loans Exhibitions and loans Exhibitions and loansAmstel Annie’, our 1948 Amstel poster that is currently on loan, unfortunately suffered a little accident by falling of the wall. But our paper restorer Van Daalen Papierrestauratie fixed her right up and there was some good news too! The exhibition at the Museum De Voorde was prolonged after having to close down due to Covid but with strong visitor numbers. The exhibition is now set to close on July 10th, 2022.
The former monumental office building of the Heineken Rotterdam brewery, designed by architect Willem Kromhout, will be repurposed as a multifunctional location that includes meeting rooms, catering facilities and a museum exhibition for the general public. The official name is Heineken Gebouw Rotterdam. Heineken Collection will loan some objects to put on display in the meeting rooms and the exhibition. Furthermore, we will provide digital files for the reproduction of over 60 photos and posters from our collection. These will be used to tell the story of Heineken in Rotterdam. The official opening of the Heineken Gebouw will take place in April 2022.
Request for advice and input
Request for advice and input Request for advice and input Request for advice and input Request for advice and input Request for advice and inputWe’ve collaborated with the Global Amstel brand team on a number of projects. Most notably, we’ve consulted on the concept for an Amstel flagship bar and worked on ideas for the implementation of the new brand purpose.
Together with the International Brands team we worked on the ‘Love for Beer’ video manifesto. A production meant to reignite the Love for Beer among colleagues and consumers across the globe. This production leveraged Heineken Collection’s expertise on the history of beer and brewing and it included collection items. The result was a highly inspirational video that was very well received when it was launched during Commerce Week 2021.
To inspire Heineken’s new innovation strategy, Heineken Collection hosted several deep-dive sessions with several key stakeholders. These sessions primarily dealt with the question of what we can learn from the innovative climate of the late 19th century during which Heineken was founded.
Stars of the Heineken Collection
Stars of the Heineken Collection Stars of the Heineken Collection Stars of the Heineken Collection Stars of the Heineken Collection Stars of the Heineken CollectionIn 2020, we published our coffee table book ‘It could only be Heineken – 100 Stars, 100 Stories’. Because there is a high demand for short, interesting stories about the history of the Heineken Company, we started selecting, researching and writing more objects and stories from the Heineken Collection. These will be published on our website heinekencollection.com.
The Heineken Collection team first selected 70 objects. Then, our web development partner Smartshore Ability designed a template to publish these stories on heinekencollection.com. Next, Marie Baarspul wrote the stories and Kist&Kilian translated them in English. Finally, Jessy Visser photographed all objects.
Renovation Heineken Experience
Renovation Heineken Experience Renovation Heineken Experience Renovation Heineken Experience Renovation Heineken Experience Renovation Heineken ExperienceIn June, the Heineken Experience started a big renovation of its entrance area. The main objective of this transformation is to increase the safety of guests by bringing the queue inside. Furthermore, the renovation aims to restore some of the glory of the former Heineken brewery in Amsterdam by showing as much of the original details of the monumental complex as possible. The new entrance area will highlight the monumental façade and the original copper kettles. Of course, the Heineken Collection Foundation is very happy with this decision.
Below you can see what the entrance & exit hall looked like and next to that the artist impressions of what it will look like upon completion.
Next to the entrance area, the Moutzolder and the rooftop will be renovated. The original functions of both spaces will be emphasized in their new design. The rooftop will be accessible to a wider public via an elevator in the entrance hall. It will take guests to the 6th floor where the Moutzolder is located, the room where the barley used to be processed. The Moutzolder will serve as a bar, from where guests have access to the roof.
The Heineken Collection team is frequently asked for advice regarding historical details and facts about the former brewery complex. We also made a selection of objects that will be displayed in the events entrance. These objects reflect the history of Heineken® sponsorships and international events.
Redecoration Molenzolder
The Molenzolder, one of the hospitality rooms on the 5th floor, has been revamped in 2021. Below you see on the left the former room and on the right the room after the revamp. In the back you can see a large empty bookcase. To ‘bring back history’ in this room, it was decided to display our collection of historical accounting books in this book case. But this was easier said than done. First, we had to clean the books and put them on wheelie bins to move them to the Molenzolder. Next we had to carry them down the stars, place them on wheelie bins again to transport them to the back of the room. Finally, we were able to place them in the bookcase. We had to use a scaffold as the books are heavy in weight. But it certainly was worth the effort.
We also brought back the original malting mill to the Molenzolder. This mill had been in storage for the last couple of years.
(Social) Media
(Social) Media (Social) Media (Social) Media (Social) Media (Social) MediaOn a regular base we make use of the Instagram platform of the Heineken Experience to post historical pictures. Here a few examples.
Talks & lectures
Talks & lectures Talks & lectures Talks & lectures Talks & lectures Talks & lecturesHEINEKEN HEAD OFFICE
In April, Olaf Slijkhuis introduced the Heineken Collection to Amstel Brand managers worldwide via a virtual presentation. He explained the mission, vision and activities of the Heineken Collection Foundation and shared which kind of Amstel objects the collection holds, and how we can support the Amstel community (and vice versa).
About 15 management trainees from the Heineken Global Supply department visited the Villa at our Head Office. Olaf gave them a small history lesson about the origins of the Heineken company.
In December, Olaf received a group of 7 people from Global Supply at the Heritage Quarter, where he focused his talk on transport and packaging.
HEX LEARNING ACADEMY
The Heineken Collection team produced and filmed several virtual heritage classes. These videos deal with interesting topics from the company’s history and are meant for the HEX Learning Academy: a digital platform for the learning and development of the tour employees of the Heineken Experience.
Fun side note: the videos were shot and edited by Nikola, one of the tour employees, who is also a talented video maker/editor.
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
In July the ambassador of Mexico paid a visit to HEINEKEN’s CEO, Dolf van den Brink, at the Heineken Head Office. After that visit, the ambassador got a tailored collection tour that included a few objects relating to the acquisition of FEMSA in 2010.
A delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands visited the Heritage Quarter in September, together with Dolf van den Brink. The delegation got a special tour.
We hosted an inspiration session for two Heineken Netherlands colleagues and four of their potential clients. During this session we were able to support Heineken’s business proposition with tailored storytelling. It was an enjoyable and meaningful meeting, which ended with a beer in Freddy's Bar. The clients ended up choosing Heineken.
At the end of November, a delegation from the Danish company Unibrew visited the Heineken Experience and the Heineken Collection where Demelza van der Maas, Collection Manager, gave them a glimpse into the Collection kitchen.
HEINEKEN COLLECTION INBOX
Through the Heineken Collection website and contact form, we receive all sorts of questions about Heineken and other Heineken-owned brands. Next to requests for images from our website and Heineken fans that want to buy merchandise, we receive questions about the value of specific historical objects. As a principle, we do not share estimates. However, we are more than willing to help if consumers are looking for historical information about their objects. Some fun examples:
Even through a global pandemic, people did find their way to the Collection inbox in 2021.
People finding Heineken flags, bottles, trays and glasses and being curious about them asked us about them by sending us pictures and stories.
We were offered a postcard from the 1928 Amsterdam Olympiad. We already have a poster and a printing plate for the postcards in the collection but not the postcard! But the man who contacted us already had an offer of 4000 euro for the card by another collector! We were very happy for him for this amount of money and in the process, we received the pictures of the postcard which were added to our catalogue.
The WoBo was once again our most sought-after object.
A professor from Montreal worked on an exhibit on prefabrication and asked to use some WoBo images.
The Victoria & Albert Museum in London requested (moving) images for an Object In-Focus film. This film is now part of a new package of short films to support their new Online Schools Offer, a new branch of the V&A School's programme which they developed for school students who couldn’t visit the V&A in person due to the pandemic. The film is of course part of our collection now as well.
The book Upcycling (editor Daniel Stockhammer) from 2020, was reprinted in 2021 in Germany and they asked for continued use of the WoBo images in that book. We’ve received a copy of the book in 2021.
And in The Netherlands, the image researcher for the MacGuffin Magazine requested images of the WoBo for their number 10 anniversary issue, named “The Bottle”.
Digital
Digital Digital Digital Digital DigitalHack of TMS
Early 2021 the servers of our supplier for our collection registration system were hacked and ransomware software was installed. Although no data was stolen from the Heineken Collection Foundation, this hack was the start of a long and still continuing disruption of our day-to-day work. Nonetheless we managed to make a workaround but it did challenge us to think about future, more robust solutions.
New hosting platform for the website
In the last quarter of 2021, the hosting of the Heineken Collection Foundation website was finally transferred to a solution supported by the Heineken company. The move took much longer than anticipated because of technical challenges and more strict procedures.
Additions to the website
After reviewing our website, we changed the detailed information screen in the online collection. The detailed information about an object is now visible in a whole page instead of a window. We have added the ability to enlarge the images and the possibility to show more than one image.
We have been working on other functionalities but due to the technical issues in the move to a new hosting platform these are going to be introduced in 2022.
From within the Heineken world, we received requests for moving images for the new Amstel Drie Vrienden campaign and we posted some moving images on the social media of the Heineken Experience.
Also, we have provided historical films to the KLM who made a film “Holland at Home: The Heineken Experience”. This new film has been added to our collection.
We have acquired different commercial campaigns from Heineken: “We’ll Meet Again” campaign, anticipating the return to ‘normal’ after the pandemic, the “Worth the Wait” campaign for the latest James Bond film in which Daniel Craig as James Bond pours a Heineken and tells us that it was worth the wait and the “Euro 2020” campaign, for the Football European Cup that was held in the summer of 2021.