My Heineken Festive Video and Planting Trees for the Environment!

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A few weeks ago, I snuck out of the office on a hot weekday afternoon and hopped into my car. Destination was at this place just off Jalan Duta, a place I’ve never been to before but no matter. I had my GPS! Sometimes my GPS gets me even more lost but that day… it brought me where I needed to go. To the Bombshelter office.

The office was at this really old apartment block that was constructed decades ago, far before I was born. Cool thing about it though was that while the outside looked like it was decades old, the inside of the Bombshelter office was really nice. Spacious, homely, big sofas and even an XBOX 360.

My reason for being there… was to shoot a video for Heineken in their festive campaign. Now it’s no secret that I am a Heineken fan. Heck everybody knows that. I drink Heineken anywhere I go… even on the beach of Phi Phi Island.

So much that every time I’m forced to drink any other beer (due to the unavailability of it at the outlet or something), I feel like I’m cheating on Heineken.

I have a nagging feeling too that I’m not the only one. I did a poll on my blog some time back on your favourite beer and 66% of you guys answered “Heineken”.

So I was happy to be a part of Heineken’s Festive video. Here are some pictures of the filming.
This is the living room of the Bombshelter office where they had a lot of the filming after moving some stuff around to add some variety to the background.

Here’s Cynthia who had her shooting just before mine. Joyce was right before her but I didn’t manage to take any pictures of hers.

The director was saying how hers was good and how she managed to get it all done in just a few takes.

Then came my turn *slaps forehead*. They decided to do it in one of their rooms right in front one of their supercomputers with a desktop wallpaper of a nice car.

It was right next to a window and the mic was pretty sensitive so I had to take many retakes. Like sometimes I talk halfway then a motorbike on the road rides past and makes an earth-shaking noise. Then the director has to “CUT!!!” and I had to start all over again. That is … until we finally put a mic on my shirt. Hehe.

The video is all part of Heineken’s Festive campaign where you can add the Facebook app and then throw a party by inviting your friends on Facebook. If you collect enough points, Heineken will give you a party kit to help with your festive party.

If you’re not planning your own party, you can always attend one of the Star Parties that they have planned. Party info can be found on their app too under the “Star Parties tab”. Or if you’re a blogger, there’s going to be a blogger party on Christmas eve. You’ll hear about it as it comes closer to Christmas but keep an ear open.

Parties aside, what I think is a lot cooler though is this: You can get all these Heineken postcards at outlets like Laundry Bar, Terrace Bar , WIP and Havana.

The postcards look like this.

On its own it looks.. incomplete…

But when you put it on… jeng jeng jeng…

You kinda get what the mask is supposed to do then.

All of these postcards anyway have this unique code behind it. You can take these unique codes, redeem it and use it to plant a ‘virtual tree’.

When I started doing it, it’s so far an empty plot of land but I’m sure by the end of the campaign there’s going to be an entire forest there.

Now the cool thing about this effort is… it’s not going to be just a virtual tree. For every tree you plant on the Facebook app, Heineken is really going to plant actual trees to contribute a small forest of endangered trees under Wild Asia’s Plant-A-Tree program.

The trees will be planted at conservation areas in Pahang in conjunction with Earth Day next year. You know to try make up for the many many trees we consume each year. I remember when I was interning at a bank once, my bank printed the entire Annual Report of a company twice (by accident).

He walked to my desk and dropped a big heavy pile of paper on my desk and said

“Tim.. I think I just killed a tree”.

Clement if you’re out there… plant a Heineken tree!!!

Anyway, check out the app and the parties guys. Happy New Year! Party hard but drink responsibly ok?

Know your limits!!! I know my limit. My limit is when I turn so red people mistake me for Sebastian.
“Sha-la-la-la-la-la my oh my, look at the boy too shy, he ain’t gonna.. kiss the girl….”