iris Singapore and Heineken part ways after 7 years

In a statement, iris Singapore managing director Craig Mapleston said that the agency was “extremely proud of the work achieved” with Heineken.

“We have made a strategic decision to not continue, and we are looking forward to focusing on new opportunities,” he added.

The partnership formally ended in December 2015, with the agency currently finishing work on one last campaign for the beer brand. The arrangement applies only in Singapore.

Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific, Mapleston said that in the last year or so, the nature of the partnership had changed.

“Due to these changes, we were finding less opportunities for in-market creativity and after a lot of discussions, decided to end our partnership with Heineken,” he added.

Heineken and iris Singapore have worked together since 2009, the partnership resulted in 11 brand campaigns, six product innovation launches, seven ZoukOuts and 10 Heineken Green Rooms.

When contacted for comment, Venus Teoh, head of marketing, for Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) issued the following statement: “After seven years of partnership with iris on Heineken in Singapore, the brand is ready to move on. We’re excited to bring fresh and creative campaigns synonymous with the Heineken brand to the market in the months ahead. We thank iris for their work over the past seven years.”