Heineken Taps an Automated Process for Image Production

How an online platform that automates the production of visual content for physical goods helped the beer brand cut down on content production time

Heineken Taps an Automated Process for Image Production

When you are marketing a variety of products to 170 different countries, content production time is of the essence.

With this in mind, Heineken partnered with Grip, an online platform that automates the production of visual content for physical goods, for a beta test for its first solution Still Shots.

Grip processes photo input and generates virtual version of the product (like a beer bottle) that can be edited, manipulated, and downloaded for use.

“Instead of manually creating an image, marketers and brands can now use this system to cut down not only on content creation production times but lead times,” says Frans Vriesendorp, CEO at INDG, owner of Grip and a company specializing in computer-generated imagery. “This can can generate visual content for any touchpoint, increase speed to market, and enable more output for the same cost and giving control back to the marketers.”

The program solution renders an image from the brand, while giving the user an opportunity to choose the background, product label, placement, and lighting.

“The process not only gives marketers and brands greater control over the final product, but it helps ensure brand consistency,” says Vriesendorp.

Results from the beta test proved that Heineken, as well as, two other anonymous international brands, were able to decrease image production time by 10, according to Vriesendorp.

“In addition to the speed of image production, the solution helps Heineken was efficiently able to cut costs per image, says Vriesendorp.

One of the costliest cuts come in the form of image tests. Vriesendorp says the companies used the software to test countless versions of an image in house, without the hassle of having to manually create the tests and risk money, time, and a negative response.

Grip, according to Vriesendorp, intends on enhance image targeting in the future months.

“The software system serves for a more personalized content production model,” says Vriesendorp.

For now though, Grip is only open for more companies on an invitation-only initial release basis.