From virtual to real—it’s the direction we need now, and the direction taken by Absolut in this new global campaign from BBH Singapore.
The campaign’s centerpiece, a two-minute film, features Tessa Thompson, American actress; MNEK, British musician; Ricki Ortiz, online gaming star; and Jolin Tsai, Taiwanese singer.
https://youtu.be/u5sEat3zZZE
The film was brought to life by the animation duo and partners at Psyop, Todd and Kylie. BBH also worked with Stink and The Marketing Arm on the campaign who were instrumental in procuring and contracting all of the talent, as well as licensing the music track for the film – Dreams Today by Efterklang, a Danish band.
BBH Creative Directors Nikhil Panjwani and Gaston Soto said, “Having grown up with Absolut posters on our bedroom walls, the opportunity to relaunch this iconic brand is a dream come true. The new platform of #togetherIRL feels highly relatable with a hyper-connected, yet disconnected Gen Z. And in times like these, it makes us truly appreciate the importance of simple things, like sharing a drink with a friend.”
Tad Greenough, Chief Creative Officer at The Absolut Company, said “This new campaign marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Absolut brand. The desire and need to break free – to venture beyond the screen back into the real world, where real-life togetherness creates the ultimate and most intimate connectivity – is in all of us now, but especially in Gen Z.”
Absolut Gen Z
In fact, people of all generations require togetherness. Nevertheless, it is true that Gen Z is battling through some tough times. In a March 2020 Pew Research Center survey, half of the oldest Gen Zers (ages 18 to 23) reported that they or someone in their household had lost a job or taken a cut in pay because of the outbreak. This was significantly higher than the shares of Millennials (40%), Gen Xers (36%) and Baby Boomers (25%) who said the same.
Another truth: not all of the members of Gen Z are old enough to legally drink alcohol. Due to this fact, alcohol brands typically do not overtly pitch teens. This tension exists side-by-side with the desire to “get ’em in the franchise” early.
CREDITS
The Absolut Company
VP Marketing: Charl Bassil
Chief Creative Officer: Tad Greenough
Head of Brand Creative: Sina Neubrandt
Marketing Manager: Filip Kiisk
Senior Brand Manager: Ylva Lundberg
Brand Managers: Maxime Henain, Oscar Danielsson, Hedda Helgesen
BBH
Global Leadership: Joakim (jab) Borgstrom, Adam Arnold
Singapore Leadership: Sascha Kuntze, Sid Tuli
Creative Directors: Gaston Soto, Nikhil Panjwani
Creatives: Stephanie Gwee, Sid Lim, Avril Chua
Business Leadership: Lynette Chua, Grace Lee, Alicia Tiong, Paisley Wright, Fran Suffling, Marina Atanassova, Lauren Gillies
Strategy: Lilli English, Faraaz Marghoob, Aarohi Dhir
Production: Wendi Chong, Wendi Chong, Wendi Chong
Black Sheep Studio: Eddie Jackson, Sally Liu, Eva Loo, Sok Wah Leow, Lee Adamson, Christopher Leow, Pang Wei Fong, Tammy Quah
PSYOP
Directors: Todd Mueller and Kylie Matulick
Producers: Justin Booth-Clibborn, Joe Maggiore, My Linh Truong, Noah Goldsmith, Andrea Panda, Michael Schlenker
Stink
Andrew Levene, Fran Thompson, Kelly Brown
The Marketing Arm
Mick Carter (Manchester), Sorcha Collister (London), Valerie Holmes (Chicago), Maggie Qu (Shanghai), David Wales (Dallas)
Photographers
GL Askew II, Conor McDonnell, Sean Marc Lee
Production Partners
Bauie Productions (LA), Butter Music + Sound (LA), Episode Films (Taipei), Fuse Adventures in Audio (Singapore), Illusion CGI Studio (Bangkok)
