Similar to the music industry, the energy drinks market is a crowded and competitive space in which it’s almost impossible to make it to the top. Red Bull’s ubiquitous cultural presence, and Monster’s huge global footprint means there isn’t a lot of limelight left for any of the many challengers.
Far from an actual rockstar, Rockstar Energy was lacking awareness, relevance, and was rarely top of mind - especially at the point of purchase. After years of inconsistent communications, most people didn’t know what it was, and the ones that did, didn’t know what it stood for.
Rockstar was in need of a big moment to reconnect with an evolving audience mindset. In order to cut through a crowded category, it needed to be impactful, entertaining, and on their terms. We found that music was a key passion point, which meant Spotify was the perfect place to connect.
Through in-depth qual research, we found that there was a new kind of energy drink consumer on the scene who lived more for fun, pleasure, and enjoyment - prioritising the stuff they loved. They were tired of toxic hustle culture and letting the “joyless grind” of everyday life drain their energy, leaving them feeling flat and unable to enjoy the shared moments they truly live for.
This was especially felt at the end of the working day when switching from what they “had to do” to what they “wanted to do”. In those moments, they weren’t just looking for functional energy, but also for an emotional mood lift to ensure they don’t miss out on the things they truly care about.
So while the rest of the category was talking about hustling, grinding and performance, we positioned Rockstar as the antidote to the joyless grind and the enabler of play.
On Friday, 21st July at 5pm, as people were ready to unplug from work, we hosted the first-ever multiverse concert experience on Spotify, featuring not 1 but 5 different Stormzys, in 5 immersive worlds.
We created this experience by capturing Stormzy performing live, then recreated the performance in a motion capture studio – with Stormzy serving as his own body double.
Using this data, we recreated his performance in Unreal Engine – developing 4 more unique worlds, 4 more Stormzy avatars, and ultimately, 4 additional versions of the concert.
With our 5 different versions of the gig, we allowed users to switch seamlessly between the 5 different worlds without skipping a beat – from the man in the flesh to a gaming world Stormzy – the camera angles, his body position, and the audio remaining perfectly in sync throughout.
Across numerous markets, we delivered an entertaining experience that was:
Innovative
Engaging
Effective
We saw up to 15.9% increase in brand awareness (vs +5.1% benchmark), 14.2% increase in purchase intent (vs +1.4% benchmark), 14.9% increase in brand favorability (vs +2.3% benchmark), and 15.5% increase in brand association with music.
