Smirnoff’s brand position is #PurePotential, meaning Smirnoff always seeks to unlock the pure potential of every situation. As a principal sponsor of Rhythm & Vines, Smirnoff wanted to make the event even more awesome for the thousands of people attending. But R&V runs over three days, so to connect in a meaningful way and over a longer period of time, they knew they needed social media. But which platform?

Facebook isn’t top of the pops with younger audiences, and Instagram is great at capturing moments, but not so good at building a two-way dialogue which was essential if they wanted to engage people over a three-day period.

The platform most fit for purpose was Snapchat.

But when it comes to alcohol marketing, Snapchat has a massive flaw. In New Zealand, Snapchat has no age gate, which makes (legally) advertising alcohol impossible. But knowing Snapchat was bang on for both R&V and their target audience, they set themselves the task of doing what no-one else had; find a legal way to use Snapchat to promote an alcohol brand.

The solution was as ingenious as the problem was difficult: run the campaign in a very Snapchat way. It only existed inside (the physically age-gated) event. And as soon as R&V wrapped up, so did the Smirnoff Snapchat account - much like a Snap, you played it once (over the three-day period) then it disappeared. The constraints of both Snapchat and R&V were turned into the validation needed to get the work approved legally. And by so doing, delivered a world first for Smirnoff in NZ and smashed their targets.