F05. Use of Licenced or Remastered Music for a Brand or Campaign
Entrant
FIRST DAY OF SPRING Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation
FIRST DAY OF SPRING Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement
VIZEUM Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
PR
HET PR BUREAU Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production
SINCE '88 Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production 2
MODERN DAY COMPOSERS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Credits
Name
Company
Position
Simon van Gorkum
First Day of Spring
Creative Director
Floortje van den Elshout
First Day of Spring
Associate Creative Director
Peter Kan
First Day of Spring
Chief Executive Officer
Evert-Jan Heijmans
First Day of Spring
Strategy Director
Estelle Goldman - Peek
First Day of Spring
Project Manager
Anne Brugts
First Day of Spring
Copywriter
Koen Koopman
First Day of Spring
Designer
Nick Harmsen
Since '88
Film Director
Daan Dagevos
Since '88
Production Manager
Douwe Hennink
Since '88
DOP Lighting Cameraman
Pieter Ceizer
Studio Ceizer
Design artist
Boy Bianchi
Modern Day Composers
Music Artist
Daan van citters
Since '88
Film Director Assistent
Marie-Laure Raadsen
Pernod Ricard Nederland
Brand Manager
Casper de Wit
Pernod Ricard Nederland
Brand Ambassador
Devon Murray
First Day of Spring
Designer
The Campaign
‘You may be black, you may be white, you may be Jew or Gentile... It don’t make a difference in our house.’ Back in 1987, Chuck Roberts expressed the values of equality and tolerance in house music culture with his classic vocal track ‘My House’.
We wanted to remind people of these values in current-day nightlife. So Absolut and a team of 17 Amsterdam nightlife icons welcomed dance enthusiasts from all over the world to Amsterdam Dance Event, with a purposeful statement: on the dancefloor, everyone is equal. The nightlife icons launched this statement in the central campaign video in which the icons performed Roberts’ lyrics.
Creative Execution
Campaign set-up and timeline
On 19/09/17 the campaign video was distributed online on the Facebook and YouTube channel of Absolut Netherlands and played in arthouse cinemas.
Media partner VICE interviewed the nightlife icons and Chuck Roberts about equality in nightlife, thereby creating a sublayer of content that was published on vice.com between 19/09/17 and 17/09/17.
On October 17th, Chuck Roberts officially opened the Amsterdam Dance Event with a live performance of his lyrics, creating a powerful press moment that was covered by Dutch national television. This moment was broadcasted live on Facebook.
Chuck Roberts performed at an Absolut branded party during the Amsterdam Dance event.
A central part of the campaign video was shown on digital out of home during the Amsterdam Dance Event.
In a period of 5 weeks we reached more than 20 million people in the target audience (millennials) with our campaign, making Absolut the most visible brand during the Amsterdam Dance Event.
The central campaign video received a lot of positive reactions (on-and offline) and had a very high completion rate of 61% on YouTube.
Some of the thousands of online reactions:
“Is it normal to get goosebumps from this?" (Myra J Hill)
“This is awesome” (Thom Bold)
“Love it” (Corine Quakkelaar)
“The only ad I never skip on YouTube, well done” (Anna Sapegina)
“Dance unites people” (NRC media)
The campaign got 60+ media publications (inter)nationally.
The PR event proved very impactful, gaining coverage by the major Dutch newspapers and national television. Video registration of the event - Chuck Roberts, preaching his lyrics - went viral, generated high and positive engagement and was even picked up internationally. Example:https://www.facebook.com/DefectedRecords/videos/10155348031602946/ (3700 shares).
In 1987, Chuck Roberts wrote and performed the lyrics for the house music classic ‘My House’. We licensed this vocal track and used it in our campaign #thisisourhouse for Absolut Vodka. Roberts’ vocals celebrate the values equality and tolerance in house music. Absolut supports inclusivity, freedom of expression and equality since the day the brand was founded.
Millennials expect brands to take a stance and get engaged. To connect Absolut and Amsterdam Dance Event purposefully, we dug into the values of both. Absolut has been supporting freedom of expression and equality since the day it was founded, while equality and tolerance are basic values that the club and music scene have always supported – rooted in house culture that was closely connected with marginalized groups.