Title	BEER BALLET
Brand	URAL OPERA BALLET
Product/Service	THE HUMPBACKED HORSE PERFORMANCE
Category	G05. Cultural Insight
Entrant	VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
Idea Creation	VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
Media Placement	VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA

Name	Company	Position
Andrei Gubaidullin	Voskhod	Creative Director
Islom Gulyamov	Voskhod	Copywriter
Anastasia Maksimova	Voskhod	Copywriter
Anton Rozhin	Voskhod	Creative Director
Dmitry Maslakov	Voskhod	Digital Creative Director
Vasily Tsykin	Voskhod	Technical Director
Vladislav Derevyannikh	Voskhod	Art Director
Maksim Geichenko	Voskhod	Designer
Marat Dzhantuganov	Voskhod	Designer
Alexei Klimov	Voskhod	Designer

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Ural Opera Ballet wanted to raise funds and execute their idea of an experimental ballet performance ‘The Humpbacked Horse’. To support their crowdfunding campaign and expand its audience beyond ballet aficionados, it was necessary to deliver a new extraordinary experience to the customers via an unusual communication channel; so we collaborated with a local brewery to boost the interest of new audience segments.

Background

Ural Opera Ballet are the innovators of the Russian ballet scene. After the COVID-19 pandemic outburst, they needed money to carry out the concept of their new experimental ballet ‘Humpbacked Horse’.The theatre needed to collect $80K for all stage props and costumes production. The ballet is a classical performance dating back to 1912, but modernized with a sprinkle of local vibe, gopniks and rappers. Gopniks are a local subcultural phenomenon, the youth of the industrial working class. Ekaterinburg’s (the theatre’s home city) suburban districts are famous for their gopniks communities. To support their theatre’s crowdfunding campaign, they needed a new approach to engaging new audiences.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The idea was to win over a new audience and to attract their attention to the theatre’s activity. The new approach was to create an extraordinary collaboration that would bring traditional theatre art and a wide audience closer. By doing so, we would make sure that the crowdfunding campaign would have a new lease of life, and that wider audiences would come to Ural Opera Ballet.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Traditionally, ballet is an elite art form, usually associated with such liquors as champagne, brandy, cognac, etc. To highlight the idea that Ural Opera Ballet represents modern and accessible art, we chose a more mainstream and mass alcohol option. Beer is a more universal and popular drink for our target audience (young people 20-45 y.o.).

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Together with Jaws, a famous local brewery, we released Humpbacked Horse brand beer. The limited batch of 56K bottles was distributed across all popular bars and beer spots of the Ural region of Russia. A part of Jaws’ profit was donated to the theatre. Additionally, the QR code on each bottle of beer gave people the opportunity to donate an optional sum of money to the props and costumes production. The crowdfunding campaign got rolling, and after two months the necessary money was collected.

List the results (30% of vote)

Media impressions: 7 mln Media outlets supported the launch of the Humpbacked Horse branded beer collection despite the fact that it’s forbidden to advertise alcoholic drinks in Russia. Over 100 publications $80K were collected in the course of 2 months. The Humpbacked Horse ballet premiere took place in July 2021 and was a success. All tickets sold out for the whole season.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Gopniks’ image was an inspiration of the creators of Ural Opera Ballet when they developed characters of their new performance the Humpbacked Horse. The gopnik culture is a huge influence in the city’s overall image, even though its first representatives originated in the 1990-ies after the break-up of the Soviet union. Gopniks are found in each district of Ekaterinburg, and each location of the Ural region. The gopnik youth has a very distinctive appearance: sportswear, beanies, squatting position, sunflower seeds and beer as a favourite to-go snack. They are remotely similar to the British subculture of chavs.