In 1589 a group of travellers refused to pay a fee to use the Camino Real road in New Mexico. They took a side road instead. Their name: Desperados, the ones that cannot be stopped.

That’s the legend of Desperados, a brand that believes all young adults need to free themselves from the established norms in order to build their own personality. A strong brand purpose.

However, Desperados was struggling to cut through the noise. Market research revealed that the brand was neither perceived as meaningful nor iconic.

How could Desperados bring its brand to life in a relevant, disruptive way and get young adults to release the Desperado in them?

On a side note: Alcohol brands face particularly strict regulations in France, e.g. showcasing people in advertising is forbidden. Creativity is forced into a very narrow playground.

A creative idea as unexpected as the brand itself was required…

Desperados ‘Edition Augmentee’ is more than just a limited edition. It embodies a new dimension of street art.

We chose Matthieu from the 9eme Concept because AR and VR felt like a natural extension of his artistic path. Our aim was to respect his physical work whilst enhancing it virtually. Google’s tilt brush technology - a 3D painting virtual reality application - neatly tied into his style. Matthieu was trained in virtual reality painting and soon became an advocate of it.

We then challenged him to create an urban artwork and enhance it digitally. Matthieu locked himself away for 10 days and let his imagination run free.

The result was astonishing, a real masterpiece at consumer’s fingertips: All they needed to do was to download the Desperados app and scan the label. They were taken on a journey into Matthieu’s art. Through 4 levels of navigation they experienced AR, followed by the creation of the physical artwork and its virtual counterpart, both in 360 videos. A making of video closed the experience loop.

Besides making the experience easy to access, we educated consumers through a step-by-step guide on the bottle itself and on tri-pack packaging. Furthermore, we used influencers to share live demonstrations within social.

We organised an exhibition in Paris to introduce the first phygital street artwork to the public. The installation was also exhibited at the Urban Art Fair and finally it travelled across France, from one local event to the next. Journalists and influencers were always present. They spread the word about ‘Edition Augmentee’ and street art lovers all over France were listening with their mobiles in hand.

Desperados produced 1.7 million ‘Edition Augmentee’ bottles to get distributed over a period of 6 months.