Did Mr. Spock like Heineken?

Mr. Spock perhaps liked Heineken – but Leonard Nimoy had quite a bit of trouble with the brand. Due to the legendary billboard, he even sued Paramount Pictures, the studio that had used his image without permission.

The Heineken brand and the Collett Dickenson Pearce (CDP) advertising agency won a Silver Award in 1976 at the design and advertising festival of Design and Art Direction (D&AD) with a piece that is known worldwide not only to Star Trek fans. The poster's story and its afterlife are equally exciting.

Let's go in chronological order

The poster was put together by only five people, four of whom worked for the same agency, Collett Dickenson Pearce.

Terry Lovelock in a Marrakesh hotel room, in the middle of the night, jotted down on a scrap of paper the legendary line: “Heineken. Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach.” From this enigmatic line it took many months of unsuccessful attempts before he arrived at a brief consisting of a single word – “freshness” – for which he had to write a campaign concept.

Tony Brignull the copywriter had the idea of using Spock’s ears for one element of the campaign.

Paul Smith art director (note: not the same as the fashion designer Sir Paul Smith!) sketched the advertisement as a three-panel composition: in the first image Spock’s ears droop, in the second they begin to recover, and in the third they stand proudly upright. While drawing the last panel Paul added a thought bubble to the poster, containing Spock’s characteristic phrase: “Illogical.”

The poster was shown to the client, who approved it – but eventually the project stalled for a long time because no one could locate Leonard Nimoy to photograph him. The client’s impatience grew, Nimoy, however, remained unreachable. Finally Alan Waldie, the CDP art director, delivered the solution after looking at the poster draft drawn by Smith.

„As you drew it, it’s like a comic. Why not use illustration instead of photographs? Who knows, perhaps it’ll be even better.”

At Alan’s suggestion Philip Castle prepared the final illustration. The result? An exceptional poster that has since remained a favorite among collectors.

*„Heineken. Refreshes the parts that other beers cannot reach.”*

Leonard Nimoy Was Not Impressed

In 1975 Leonard Nimoy and Henry Fonda dined in London in the company of their wives. Between courses, Fonda casually asked Nimoy what he thought of the giant Spock posters around the city.
– What posters, Henry? – Nimoy asked.
– You mean you don’t know about the Heineken posters? Nimoy clearly had no idea. It only later dawned on him why a bartender had previously urged him to order Heineken.

Nimoy found the Heineken poster’s sexual innuendo to be particularly tasteless.

Upon returning home he discovered that the brewery had not obtained permission for the poster campaign. Even more awkward, he learned that Paramount had for years not paid him royalties, while the image of Spock had been used in numerous advertisements and products. Nimoy had enough: he filed a lawsuit against Paramount. The studio stuck to its claim, and the lawsuit dragged on for years.

Impress someone with this article; then ask them what they think about it. In the end you might have a good chat about the topic. Or anything else. It’s worth it, isn’t it?

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While the lawyers argued, buoyed by the enormous success of Star Trek, Paramount planned a full-length feature film. This came at just the right time for Nimoy: he announced that he would not read the screenplay until the studio settled the matter. The money, miracle after miracle, arrived immediately, and Nimoy signed the contract for the role of Spock.

All’s Well…

There is no legend about whether Heineken (or CDP) paid Paramount, and if so, how much. What is certain is that they did not come out badly: in 1976 they were awarded the silver trophy at the D&AD, and to this day this campaign’s line, “Refresh the parts other beers cannot reach”, remains its most iconic piece.