One Source launches Absolut-ely incredible creative campaign

South Africa has just experienced one of the most powerful brand collaborations of all time.

Pairing Absolut Vodka with One Source, these brands delivered a purpose-driven campaign which was created to elicit strong brand presence beyond social.

The message was structured around local, contextual communications, helping One Source to reignite its brand and create a revolution.

What’s next for One Source?

The interest sparked by the original idea has taken the entire concept to new heights, unveiling a new campaign event which is called ‘One Source Live’, set to take place on 24 March in Johannesburg. Kenya’s Osborne Macharia, South Africa’s Khuli Chana, Sho Madjozi and Trevor Stuurman, and Senegal’s Fabrice Monteiro have been announced as the collaboration source that will reignite Absolut Vodka’s new revolutionary campaign. From fashion, photography, music and arts, the event will gather creatives from across the continent to celebrate for an all-day live series of performances and collaborations on multiple stages.

As part of the follow-up, Absolut created a new way to tap into the South African market, helping One Source’s ethos really resonate with the rest of the country. In order to achieve this, they have decided to use characters to reference how each of the ingredients in the premium vodka brand is sourced from Ahus, a tiny Swedish town. And, to give you some more insight on what to expect, the ‘story’ entails five selected industry heavyweights acting as heroic superheroes. The overall idea is inspired by Africa’s history, mythology and bright future (embodied in the constant blue glow), where these five characters will play the roles of The Eye, The Rain Queen, The Iron Warrior, The Explorer and The Dragon.

Musician Sho Madjozi said the role of the rain queen resonated perfectly with her.

“I always wanted to change the atmosphere, and that is what happens when I step into a place with my xibelani and my signature music. A rain queen changed the weather and as you know, people associate Limpopo with lightning, so I could easily play the part of the rain queen.”

To give you some background on the very first social campaign, Absolut and One Source joined forces with South African hip-hop sensation, Khuli Chana, to create a documentary series, an EP and a music video. The story aimed to follow his journey from South Africa to Ghana, from collaborator to collaborator, lighting the fire of African creativity wherever he went.

Among his fans, the campaign quickly made waves as it spoke directly to African viewers who could feel the inspiration behind his adventure. Soon after, the song ‘One Source’ became a war cry of the African creative revolution and a celebration of African unity: exactly what Africa wants to achieve.

This crowdsourced movement was developed to promote authentic African art, design and creativity. In this case, to #BeAbsolut means to be proud of your roots and the African unity behind that. And, in order to achieve that, One Source Live and Absolut are encouraging people to get involved online by selecting and choosing some of the best artwork from African artists in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.

“One Source Live underscores our belief that creatives are the real leaders that can rewrite and recreate the kind of change that modern Africa is poised to own,” says Absolut Marketing Manager, Iris Le Berg.

“This project defines what being a creative revolutionary means to me – the courage to unite in the face of all physical, cultural, and political boundaries and differences as Mama Africa’s offspring and make her shine, to make her proud, to make her smile.”

The campaign created unprecedented media attention for Absolut, racking up 754 908 views on the music video, with total combined media impressions reaching a staggering 556 580 741. The engagement rate reached 10.29% and the earned impressions were a total of 526 141 714. Today, the music and video is still played on the radio and television, seen on blogs and on social media platforms across the continent. One Source also reached number one on iTunes, filling national airwaves as they made it onto major news and music shows. This was all shared by some of the continent’s most influential artists.

“AFRICA is on fire!” are the opening words to the popular and visionary song ‘One Source’ by Khuli Chana, and these words are everything we need to take a stand and own what we have, who we are and make a difference where we can. We need to become united in all that we are. It’s time to be proud of our art, our creativity, our diversity and who we are as artists and as individuals. This movement is the start of something new, and we can’t wait to see all the positive noise the next campaign is going to bring.

May this campaign will reignite a new era in world entertainment and in the global arts sector, and let us change the way people perceive our creativity. You can follow Absolut on Facebook to stay in the loop, buy tickets and more. You can also visit OneSourceLive.co to get involved.