The United States is a market of great maturity and innovation in the branded entertainment space. But if Americans have become accustomed to traditional branded entertainment approaches, they’ve also grown increasingly weary (and suspicious!) of marketing posed as entertainment. And, indeed, it is increasingly challenging to achieve breakthrough in the US market – even through non-traditional branded entertainment strategies.

Against this context, we saw an opportunity to shatter conventions of branded entertainment, and launch the new Absolut Tune – a champagne/vodka hybrid – as a cultural property unto itself. By partnering with international recording superstars, Icona Pop, we introduced Tune to the world not just as another product, but a piece of transformative art and culture unto itself.

Absolut has always been a daring brand, claiming a leading role at the edge of art and contemporary culture. This, combined with the insight that live activations prove to be the strongest drivers of relevance for our target in this category, drove our approach to create a live showcase for the transformative power of creativity - the philosophy at the heart of the Absolut brand.

Our direct response approach to attendance flexed relevant media partners (Flavorpill, Vice, Google), rather than traditional paid, while the use of artists as influencers helped reinforce the relevance and appeal of attending.

• Over 280,000 attendees experienced Open Canvas and attended related Absolut events in over 15 local accounts.

• Absolut’s Open Canvas video and digital display garnered over 55 million impressions with 120,000 clicks: a CTA of 0.50%, over 5x higher than DFA benchmarking of 0.08%.

• The interactive pre-roll videos garnered a 66% completion rate.

• But, more than that, Open Canvas became proof of the brand philosophy, demonstrating that creativity is indeed the most powerful agent of transformation.