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Stella Artois and Mother give New York and Buenos Aires a starry night

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This Christmas, Stella Artois have given city-dwellers in New York and Buenos Aires a taste of something they don't get too experience too often; a starry sky. Together with lead agency Mother London, and production company UNIT9, Stella Artois has brought to life a pop-up installation that opened in New York this past week and is set to hit the Argentinian capital next week, inviting people to experience and interact with a seemingly infinite night's sky like never before. The installation was crafted using over 500 kinetic LED bulbs arranged in clusters, with motion triggered lights placed throughout the starscape and a built-in audio reactive element mimicking the actual range of sound that stars make (yes, stars make noise according to NASA, with whom Mother consulted on the project).

Stella Artois – Story in the Stars

As guests walk along a mirrored floor toward the centre of the installation the makeshift stars become more dense and select lights gravitate toward them, making the guests the centre of the star's orbit, and directing them toward the brightest stars in the installation whilst giving the impression of an infinite starry night. As guests reach up to the stars, their light drifts towards them, and built in cameras snap a photo which can then be retrieved at the end of the experience and shared on social media with the @StellaArtois and #GiveBeautifully tags. The installation is the latest example from Stella of the brand taking an experimental approach to its advertising, having previously partnered with immersive theatre group Punchdrunk to create a number of theatrical experiences in London, and also used virtual reality to promote its sponsorship of Wimbledon.

Stella Artois and Mother London have given city-dwellers in New York and Buenos Aires a taste of something they don't get too experience too often; a starry sky

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As well as being a magical idea for the festive season, the Stella Artois starry sky also has a legitimate branding story attached to it, with the beer originally created by the Artois brewery in 1926 as a Belgian festive drink, and named after the Christmas star. In its early years it was sold just as a winter brew though later became available all year round. This story has appeared in Stella’s advertising before, though in the UK at least, isn’t a connection that has necessarily stuck with consumers. Here, the brand is attempting to reinforce it again, in the US and Argentinian markets, via the installation and also a TV spot, a bespoke website, and a musical tie-in with R&B star John Legend, who wrote an actually rather gorgeous song (very Van Morrison) called “Under the Stars” specifically for the Give Beautifully campaign. It even uses the sounds of the stars themselves! The installation is by far the most ambitious aspect of the campaign, however, and is inspired in part by artist Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room and Random International’s Rain Room.

Stella Artois – Give Beautifully

The attention to detail on the project extends beyond just the visuals into sound too, as Mother London producer Max Yates explains: “We collaborated with some NASA scientists in order to get various recordings that they have captured from stars. Stars genuinely make a sound, so we then took those sounds and they form part of the installation, as a background noise that is interactive as you walk through.” Hermeti Balarin, ECD at Mother London, added: “Stella is probably our most interesting client in terms of allowing us to do different kinds of things. Every time they are pushing us to do something else, trying to do something deeper than above-the-line communications.”

Stella’s starry sky also has a legitimate branding story attached to it, with the beer originally created by the Artois brewery in 1926 as a Belgian festive drink

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Unsurprisingly, it was not a straightforward project to put together. Initially constructed in London (though not shown to the public here unfortunately), the entire rig was then sent to New York for its first outing, before it will be packed up again and moved to Buenos Aires for display from December 17-19. Tickets to visit the pop-ups were given out in advance, and to our knowledge, these are now sold out. So sadly, most of us will only experience this installation via photos, but some photos they are!

Stella Artois & John Legend – The Making of Under the Stars

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