Enter The Hotel.
Agency: CHINA. Role: co-Creative Director.Live like nobody knows you.
Seagram’s Gin claim in Spain is ‘That’s the NY Way’. Sounds awesome, but, what’s the NY Way again? There were decks, compasses, purposes, and whatnots that talked about ‘empowering people to live their lives their way’. Individual freedom with some Sinatra undertones. But all of this material was for private audiences only, and the claim felt like an afterthought.
We won the pitch for the Seagram’s Gin account with a creative proposal that laid the groundwork for the next few years by beefing up the claim, jumping into the freedom conversation, and talking like a real New Yorker. As we couldn’t invite people to say ‘fuck it, do your thing’, we settled for something that still sounded shocking while allowing us to keep our jobs: ‘Live like nobody knows you’.
Hotel, sweet hotel.
Setting foot in our own hotel made sense for multiple reasons. It fitted like a glove with the campaign’s message, as hotels are places where, literally, nobody knows you, and you can take a break from your everyday life (hanging the ‘do not disturb’ sign also helps). On a roadmap level, it set up a visual imagery we could call our own and go back whenever needed. Brand-wise, it showed the premiumness and NY-ness that Seagram’s Gin stands for. But, mostly, it was fun. Just a great excuse to play with weird characters and craft some good old entertainment. Some Youtube user thought it was a Netflix show trailer. That’s a W.