ABOUT

A most amazing opportunity landed on our desks at RPM. People at the Smirnoff brand felt that it had become cold, distant, out of touch with the people out there in the bars. They asked us to pitch for the business with an experiential strategy that would reconnect the brand with its natural audience.

In response, our theme basically began with the idea that nights out weren't good enough. We felt that DJs were getting too much credit (they're only playing records after all). We thought that people should be able to ask for more from a night out than just a DJ. So we wrote a battle cry about this, and began to draw on fringe themes - street theatre, burlesque, underground performers to create a toolkit of ideas that would be genuinely exciting and special for anyone that participated.

We had carte-blanche to come up with crazy ideas and we really went to town. The Silent Disco was just one of the ideas we had for this - I know that every good idea has several claimants, but I hereby claim that the very original silent disco idea was mine. My proof is that, as far as I know, RPM were the first to bring this idea to life with an amazing Fun Loving Criminals gig, with the audience stamping and cheering, but only able to hear the music through headphones. There were little things too, like student nights where a drink purchase was rewarded with a free item from a dressing up box (moustache, boa etc). We won the pitch, and events started happening all over the place, and bigger and bigger names wanted to get involved.

In year one, we'd created The Electric Cabaret. In year two, we brought our original mantra to the fore with the launch of 'Original Nights'. Bursaries were offered to people with the best ideas for a special night and the indie feel of the whole campaign really appealed to performing artists, and so interest just grew and grew.
In terms of look-and-feel, the original cabaret theme has gradually morphed and faded into a sophisticated worldwide operation with a more chemical feel, currently working under the title of "Nightlife Exchange Project" (not my work but wish it were.)

The basic 'Original Nights' concept has now taken over the entire brand's approach to their UK marketing. I think everything in the US is now led by the experiential side along similar lines too.Nearly all Smirnoff TV spend around the world is now devoted to promoting the experiential activity. It's a really unusual case of a small agency sending a little ripple that went all the way in changing a whole brand's approach. So, if I went to cocktail parties, this project would be my claim to fame.