Client Director Will Hodgess gives his account of 'The Black Diamond', the Stella Artois experience! Read what he thought about the immersive theatrical experience created to promote Stella Artois Black.

2. text
Stella Artois: The Black Diamond
William Hodgess
29th July 2011

3. Personal reaction
Mr Artois, take a bow. I think the standard
for total sensorial brand activation
campaigns has been set!
I came away from the first of the two
evenings (back in early July) impressed.
The second, however, has left me truly
gob-smacked! Not just at the overall
experience, but the vision of the brand,
and the unimaginable amount of planning
needed.
The events take a far more personal twist
during the latter stages, and taking this
decision meant timing was crucial to
ensure you still make the experience
accessible to large numbers of people.
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4. The brand’s connection with cinema
Stella Artois have long used film and
cinema as a communication platform for
their core brand and more recently with
their growing range of sub brands: Stella
Artois Four and Stella Artois Black.
This particular campaign was focused on
building upon Stella Artois Black’s
connection with film noir and its gritty, dark,
wonderfully stylised characteristics. The
relationship between film noir and the
product summarised nicely by the brand’s
stap line:
Matured for Longer
for a Richer Experience
An interesting example of a brand building
their entire personality around film, rather
than more conventional film sponsorship /
partnership activities.
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5. Campaign format
Consumers, film-enthusiasts and basically
anyone who wanted to could sign up for
the campaign which was publicised by
traditional above the line communications,
but predominantly online through social
networking sites. The story is fully
explained and supported by the fantastic
dedicated website that uses film, music
and a wonderfully dramatic mood to draw
you into the events.
http://www.stellaartois.com/black
The invite was all kept very secretive and
mysterious, and simply gave you
instructions to be at a certain - quite
bizarre - location at a certain time for
scene 1, and the same for the follow up
event a couple of weeks later for scenes
2-7. Let the tweeting and social media
hype commence!
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6. The story
Pioneering theatre
company Punchdrunk teamed up with
Stella Artois Black for another commercial
partnership to bring its unique style of
magical immersive performance to the
masses. Following on from last year’s ‘The
Night Chauffeur’, this latest interactive
theatrical focuses on ‘The Black Diamond’,
a classic film noir plot full of love,
deception and desire putting the spectator
at its heart.
Jacque, the hero, wants to propose to long
term sweetheart Cecile, the love, and as a
symbol of his commitment he plans to give
her an expensive and rare diamond.
However, there are dark forces at work
and a thief has other plans for the
diamond. The story puts you at the heart of
the diamond’s meandering journey through
the dark underworld of 1960’s Paris.
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7. Scene 1 – At the house
The secretive location for scene one, “At
the house”, was in a back ally in
Shoreditch, East London. Based in a
warehouse that had been converted
especially for the event into a 60’s French
family home, every detail had been
painstakingly considered. From the scores
of handwritten post cards that adorned the
walls, to the candles and ornate lamps that
felt every bit mid 20th century Parisian.
The house was full of people (around 150),
made up of, as we later realised, about
80% public and 20% actors and actresses
in costume but still managing to blend in
well. This created the wonderful sensation
of not knowing who was acting and who
wasn’t, making the experience all the more
real.
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8. Scene 1 – At the house continued
After 15 minutes of exploring and
wandering around the house with our
perfectly chilled pint of Stella Artois Black,
word quickly spread that “she was on her
way” and that we were to be quite. Soon
after, a beautiful, glamorous young lady
walked blindfolded up the main staircase
and into the crowded but silent front room.
After a mimed count of three, the crowd -
coordinated by the planted actors -
screamed “Surprise!!”. The French music
came bellowing out of the radio, party
streamers were let off, wild dancing
commenced and generally the party kicked
off! Over the next 30 minutes we danced,
wandered around, and were approached
by three of the main characters. Each of
whom whole-heartedly engaged with us to
tell their different accounts of the night.
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9. Scene 1 – At the house continued
What struck me was the incredible talent of
the actors, not just in playing their roles, but
in being able to adapt their approach and ad-
lib depending on the individual’s response.
Some members of the audience looked
petrified when approached, others laughed
and played along. Reading the mood of the
situation and acting accordingly makes the
execution of this experience a true art form.
With the party in full swing, a desperate
looking man sprints through the crowd and
out of the door, knocking revellers from his
path. Seconds later he is chased by Jacque,
who then returns back to the party, shouting
with great anger, “you must have seen
something!” “who was he?”, “where has he
gone?”. The party is then called to an abrupt
end by the official security guards. The crowd
was left confused as to how real this all was.
The perfect cliff hanger leading into part two.
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10. Scenes 2 – 7 - In the streets
Three weeks had passed but the memory of
the first scene was still fresh. Again, we’re
simply given a location and a time: Old Street
underground, public telephones, 19.10. A
group of four of us wait eagerly, gripped with
anticipation of what could be about to
happen, although now with a greater sense of
what it’s all about – we’re ready for an
immersive experience. We couldn’t quite
believe that there were just four people
involved in this second stage, it felt very
intimate and far more real.
A woman instructs us to read a planted
French paper (in English) which gives detail
of the robbery along with other brilliantly
subtle cues. Just then one of the phone rings,
a voice tells us to leave via exit 3 and keep
walking (a note left in the phone’ coin slot
reiterates the instructions). We do as we’re
told and walk along a busy pavement.
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11. Scenes 2 – 7 - In the streets continued
Before you know it a hand grabs your arm
with force and firmly says “don’t look at me,
don’t speak, look at the ground and keep
walking”. Two of us are lead down a back
street (whilst the other two are taken in a
different direction), we’re instructed to stand
with our face against some red shutters.
These are lifted to reveal a warehouse
containing the same car from scene one with
a sheet over the windscreen.
The menacing actor then sets about
demanding that we give him “the money”, the
money we later found out was for his brother
in exchange for the diamond. Just as the
interrogation was getting heated the man’s
brother arrives with our two fairly startled
looking friends. He’s clearly the muscle and
spends the next 5 minutes eyeballing and
generally intimidating us to try and get this
money we’re supposed to have – intense!
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12. Scenes 2 – 7 - In the streets continued
It’s pretty full-on and you had to frequently
remind yourself it wasn’t real life, again
incredible acting skills make it a heart-pounding
experience. The brothers argue and go their
separate ways. The covered car then starts its
engine and a voice instructs us to get in the
back and keep our heads down.
As we’re driven across East London (see route
on right) we’re briefed by the driver that we will
be attending a cabaret show and that we need
to keep our eye on a certain small black box
that contains the elusive diamond. As we arrive
we’re greeted by a quirky, eccentric man who
says “so you will be dressing Miss Lola
tonight?” we nod and are led through a cabaret
bar and into a dressing room where the sultry
Lola awaits us. As she gets ready for her final
performance she clasps the diamond and tells
us a story of her unrequited love for a man,
before kissing us both on the cheek.
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13. Scenes 2 – 7 - In the streets continued
She takes to the stage and sings her heart
out to an audience of around five people,
again an incredibly intimate experience. Once
finished she wanders over to her love interest
and kisses him whilst subtly also passing him
the diamond. The same diamond we have
been instructed by the menacing driver to not
let out of our sight! The man leaves and Lola
takes to the stage to say a final goodbye.
We’re back outside and into the car.
Predictably the driver is not happy we don’t
have the diamond, but offers a solution. We
need to go to a house where he knows it will
have been taken and steal it back – we’re
given a note with specific instructions. Again,
with head in hands we’re driven across town.
Whilst in the car the Parisian radio station
cuts to a news broadcast which talks of the
diamond theft and the possible suspects, all
adding to the story’s complexity and intrigue.
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14. Scenes 2 – 7 - In the streets continued
We arrive at the house where we have been
told we need to commit the robbery as the
owner is out for a short period of time. As the
four of us sneak through the doors we are
apprehended by a stranger in the dark of the
house, “There has been a change of plan,
she is here, but we still need to get the
diamond”. We’re each handed a small torch,
and assigned rooms to check. I was given the
study on the fourth floor.
The note we received in the taxi leads us to a
statue of a dog and a four digit code around
its neck. Sneaking into the study in the pitch
black I find the dog and retrieve the code. At
this point the owner realises there is
someone in her house and rings her lover.
Our time is limited and the man leading us
shows us to a room with the safe containing
the diamond.
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15. Scenes 2 – 7 - In the streets continued
We’re all stood around as I hurriedly enter the
code into the combination lock. Just as it
finally opens we hear a scream, the alarm
goes off and the lights come on. “Run!”
shouts the man, so diamond in hand and
armed with alarming amounts of adrenaline,
the five of us hurtle down the staircase and
out onto the street.
We’re then instructed to keep calm and walk
so as not to draw attention to ourselves. We
follow him up the road where we are met by
Jacque, who is thrilled when he is given the
diamond. The other man vanishes and we
are handed two black helium filled balloons,
this was confusing but by now we were
getting quite used to things being confusing.
Jacque looks excited and beckons us to
follow him to a hairdressers where Cecile is
clearing up after her days work.
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16. Scenes 2 – 7 - In the streets continued
One of the group is instructed to go in and
ask for a haircut, another goes into to distract
her whilst Jacque puts the lights out. He
lights some candles and puts on a special
song of theirs. When her back is turned I give
Jacque the sign, he walks over embraces her
and gives her the diamond. They share a kiss
and again the quality of acting convinces you
they are genuinely in love.
They lead us out into the street and take the
balloons from us. They point us towards the
public phone and suggest we look into the
change slot. In there is a note which simply
reads “fin”. They walk to the end of the road,
look back at us, let the balloons float away,
wave and vanish. We look at each other in
disbelief at the what we have just been a part
of. The most impressive part…scenes 2 - 7
took just 50 minutes from start to finish. Wow!
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17. Closing thoughts
I feel lucky to have been a part of the Stella
Artois Black Diamond Experience. From a
personal experience I found it incredible.
From an effectiveness perspective for the
brand I must say I’m undecided…
On the one hand I see it as a wonderful
victory for quality over quantity. Reaching a
small number of people with a rich, impactful,
quality message, over simply reaching a
great quantity of people with more traditional
types of communications. There is no doubt
that the 1,500 (approx) people that
experienced what I did will preach it like the
gospel. However, on the other hand I can’t
help to question how much of an impact that
will have on a larger scale on people’s intent
to purchase the product and engage with the
brand. In my opinion it will need significant
support from traditional media to ensure the
message reaches the masses.
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18. Thank you
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