The Absolut Choir

Client: Pernod Ricard, Absolut

Against a back-drop of rising transphobia, fewer disability benefits and lack of body representation, minority groups were feeling outcast and silenced.

A brand that has always championed diversity, Absolut believes that whether it’s drinks, ideas or people, we’re born to mix. Our brief was to show how mixing could drive progress for underrepresented voices. In the context of being louder, we knew music could be a powerful creative medium to help voices be heard. And so, The Absolut Choir with Olly Alexander was born; a real choir that literally and metaphorically raised the volume of inspiring changemakers. Olly created an entirely new arrangement for his most personal and poignant Years & Years track, Shine, which we used to literally shine a light on our changemakers, alongside a TTL campaign including content, an event and billboards. The message across all content was simply, share to make us louder. An act of joyful disruption, The Absolut Choir shared the joy of diversity and being louder as a collective. Singing were trans rights advocate Kenny Ethan Jones, disability champion Sian Lord, body positivity advocate Nyome Nicholas-Williams, Trans Voices Choir directors Coda Nicolaeff, ILĀ Sebastian and the Trans Creative Collective (TCC). An activist who, like Absolut, uses his platform for social change, Olly was the perfect frontman. And these changemakers were heard. 36 pieces of earned coverage, a Ladbible partnership with 13m impressions, 700k content views, boosts to their social profile of 56%, 65% social buzz for Absolut, and an increase in brand deals.