Heineken has launched a new campaign titled “#SocialOffSocials” featuring Joe Jonas and social media personality Seth Phillips, known as “Dude With Sign,” aimed at encouraging in-person socializing amid growing digital fatigue.

The campaign kicked off mid-April at New York’s Bleecker Street Bar where Jonas and Phillips, who collectively boast over 35 million followers, posed in window displays designed to resemble Instagram Reels. The event attracted various high-profile figures including Victoria’s Secret models Martha Hunt and Graice Carvalho, Yankees pitcher Luke Weaver, and influencers Lil Cherry and Paul Olima.

Jonas debuted his new track “Heart by Heart” at the event before its release on digital platforms, while also filming segments of a music video with the in-person audience.

Research Points to Growing Social Media Fatigue

The campaign is backed by Heineken’s global study of 17,000 adults, which reveals consumers spend an average of 5 hours and 48 minutes daily on their devices, totaling 88 days annually. Key findings include:

• 52% of adults globally report feeling overwhelmed by pressure to keep up with social media
• 59% across all age groups indicate increased phone time over the past year
• 62% of respondents (75% among Gen Z) report feelings of loneliness despite digital connectivity
• 51% say online interactions drain their “social battery,” rising to 62% among Gen Z
• 47% describe themselves as “always online” with 60% reporting “constant” notifications

Additional analysis from Statista indicates in-person socializing has decreased by 35% over 24 years, while scrolling time has more than doubled (54%) since the introduction of platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.

Campaign Focuses on Real-Life Connections

With this campaign, Heineken positions itself as a facilitator of authentic social experiences. The campaign’s advertising component dramatizes how creators would react to empty social media feeds if more people socialized in person.

“Working with creators – who are by their nature always online – to highlight the solution may seem ironic, but they too realize it’s about balance,” Nabil Nasser, Global Head of Heineken, says in a press release.

The company’s research shows 79% of respondents look at their phones less when socializing in person, while 64% wish for a return to pre-smartphone socializing.

Jonas notes in campaign materials, “The crowd was so real, so present, and completely locked into the music – that is something you can’t experience by watching on social media.”