Branded Entertainment in Spain is still in its very early stages. The first steps taken by brands in this area are still mostly hesitant and basic. In the special case of alcoholic beverages, the legislation does not allow any commercial communication on TV or in any other conventional media. So the challenge in this case was to find a new way to integrate interesting content with an alcoholic beverage in compliance with the legal restrictions.

We created an interactive installation in which each bottle was fitted with a different sensor: tactile, potentiometers, buttons, infrared, or gyroscopic. With each technology a different musical module was built: Piano, Launchpad, Knobs, Step Sequencer, Theremin and Scratcher. So anyone could make music in real time, by playing, spinning, moving or shaking the new bottles.

An online documentary series and a Facebook application covered the whole process live. We composed an original song that could be downloaded from the Internet. And a live DJ show showed the new bottles to consumers for the first time.

The integrated communication campaign built around The Bottle Music Machine caused quite a stir. More than 17,300 references to the project appeared in blogs and websites. The documentary series registered over 400,000 views. And, most importantly, Brugal became Spain’s top-selling rum in that period.