Heineken 0.0 & F1 Pop Up in Chelsea for Player 0.0 Finals!
Last week we were invited to the Heineken 0.0 popup in Chelsea NY for their Player 0.0 US Finals in collaboration with F1 and esports team 100 Thieves.
Since 2016, Heineken has been a global partner of F1; sponsoring races, promoting new beverages, and advocating for safe driving. This year, they partnered with 3 time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen for the Heineken Player 0.0 Competition. With the release of their new Heineken 0.0, their non-alcoholic version of their classic beer, gamers all over the world have participated in an online mobile-gaming competition to win a chance to travel to Madrid, Spain and meet Max Verstappen! The Player 0.0 game tasks players to drive down a winding highway filled with obstacles as they collect 0.0 tokens and drive safely while avoiding to crash. You can try out the game on Heinken’s website here. The top 5 players from the mobile game qualified for the finals, graduating from their phones to full-on racing simulators. This week the US Finals for the Player 0.0 competition was held at Studio 525 here in Chelsea, NYC.
The collaboration between Heineken and 100 Thieves made for a great pop-up, with a neon green 360° bar, offering Heineken 0.0 as well as traditional Heineken and Heineken Silver and a virtual spin-the-wheel for the chance to win some exclusive 100 Thieves x Heineken 0.0 merch! I tried out Heineken 0.0 for the first time and I was surprised by how authentic it tasted even though it was non-alcoholic. And the vibes would not have been complete without DJ Wax Motif from Australia playing some EDM throughout the night.
For the race, they set up 5 racing simulators, each one repping an F1 team from Red Bull to Williams, along with a huge LED screen wall for everyone to watch the race live. The players arrived the previous day and took a few practice sessions to get accustomed to the much more difficult and realistic driving setup. That night, they were ready to race in the virtual world for their chance to meet the reigning world champ! The contestants were Gage Scott driving for Red Bull, Fayo Foresythe driving for Ferrari, Jessie Wier driving for McLaren, Jaime Valezquez driving for Mercedes, Jake Ober driving for Williams, and Sandy Rushing driving for Alpine. Hosting the esports race was pro-driver Samantha Tan and renowned racing commentator Chris Puckett. After completing a grid qualifier earlier that day, the race kicked off for a total of 5 laps around the virtual Las Vegas circuit in F1 2024. Considering that the contestants are not professional drivers or esports players, the race was thrilling with several fierce battles and switch-ups in positions, a few shunts and bumps, and even a 5 second penalty for a track limits violation at the end. We were all on our toes to see who would win the race! Finally, it was Jessie in the McLaren who took the definitive pole position with a lead of 4.292s, with podium finishes by Jaime in the Mercedes and Sandy in the Alpine for 2nd and 3rd place respectively. You can watch the full livestream of the race on the Heineken USA youtube channel here!
The experience at the Player 0.0 competition pop-up was amazing and it was great to watch the race live and try out Heinken 0.0 for the first time!
