The ABSOLUT CUT site acted as the hub of the Australian launch in 2005. Targeting urban creative influencers, it housed an online photography exhibition of the life of Australia's capital cities, taken by breaking artists who live within them. Visitors could enjoy this photography, the stories behind them and the people who took the shots. They were also encouraged to submit their own ‘cut’ that gave a typical, yet unseen perspective of their city.

The site provided information on the ABSOLUT CUT bars giving opening times, information on bands, and providing webcam feeds of the events as they happened.

With ABSOLUT’s artistic heritage driving the launch we had to ensure that the ABSOLUT CUT bars were interesting, distinctive and unique enough to appeal to the discerning crowd we were targeting. We sourced disused, rundown but iconic venues in Sydney and Melbourne that had a place in the heart of the urban population but had long been abandoned.

Broken windows were repaired, syringes carefully disposed of, overflowing toilets fixed to transform the bars into a modern but edgy venue capable of housing bands, DJs and exhibiting art through projections, plasmas, old TVs and monitors.

A discreet campaign targeting only the most informed, drove 7,000 people to visit the ABSOLUT CUT Bars during their 24 nights of operation. During this period 12,000 free bottles of CUT were sampled and another 12,000 were sold over the bar. Even as the highest price item on the menu, ABSOLUT CUT outsold all other drinks every night.

The bar and supporting material drove traffic to the photographic project at www.absolutcut.com.au which received up to 1,800 hits a day.The campaign received significant internal recognition from both distributor Maxxium and parent company V&S as their global campaigns of the year.