After four inspiring months, The Open Mic Project by Absolut reached its peak at the 60th annual GRAMMY Awards. The platform brought Rita Ora together with fans to create a track inspired by their messages of acceptance submitted on TheOpenMicProject.com. Over the past few months, Rita has been writing and recording the song, “Proud”, preparing for its live debut during GRAMMYs week in New York City, all brought to you by Absolut Vodka.
The song’s message of acceptance took particular meaning the night of the GRAMMYs, after a week of Women’s Marches across the country and musicians opting to wear a white rose on the red carpet in solidarity with #MeToo. Rita Ora, wearing her own white rose, interviewed with E!’s Ryan Seacrest on the GRAMMYs red carpet and spoke about her journey creating “Proud” with fan’s messages of acceptance.
To make this pinnacle moment possible, 360i worked with Absolut to develop a long-term approach that gave the brand a massive presence during entertainment’s biggest time periods, from the Jingle Ball to GRAMMYs week. By relying on consistent media partners, Absolut was able to foster deeper and more meaningful engagement with consumers throughout the year.
Since launching on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in October, the campaign has been supported by robust media partnerships including a warm-up concert in December for the 2017 iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour, as well as digital audio, video and banners with Spotify, E!, iHeartRadio and CBS. Additional support was provided by national TV, programmatic video and paid social content – all building anticipation for Rita’s new anthem of acceptance. Two custom, behind-the-scenes videos went live in January, teasing the January 19 song release.
Absolut Vodka surrounded the GRAMMYs with touchpoints including six on-air segments on Entertainment Tonight, brand integration on E! News, Snapchat integrations and a Spotify homepage takeover highlighting Absolut Lime. Absolut Lime was the official spirits partner of the GRAMMYs and poured at 14 GRAMMY week events, most notably the GRAMMYs after party. Digital media throughout the week highlighted the Vodkarita cocktail, a signature cocktail at the GRAMMYs, prompting consumers to try the drink at home.
The Open Mic Project was created in partnership with an inter-agency team to champion Absolut’s commitment to diversity, acceptance and freedom of expression. The uplifting messages shared throughout the project will live on well beyond the campaign through ’Proud’, which has already broken into Rita Ora’s top streamed songs on Spotify with over 380K streams to-date.
