The vodka market in South Africa was dynamic and fast-growing and, in a nation seeking greater quality, Premium Vodka was the engine of growth. Our client, Absolut, was number two in the premium sector. For ten years its sales and share had grown, year on year. Then, between 2014 and 2016, that growth came to a sudden halt and sales stagnated.

Partly this was due to the spectacular success of rival brand SKYY, which - with the aid of aggressive, ultra-aspirational marketing - had come out of nowhere to achieve massive market dominance. Partly, also, it was due to the local market's growing demand for brands with South African and African cultural relevance.

Absolut’s understated brand DNA precluded competing with SKYY in terms of bling-laden aspiration. And as a Scandinavian import, Absolut could not rely on its global brand assets to connect with local consumers.

Instead, we had to find a different way to become relevant to the hearts, minds, lifestyle and culture of South African vodka drinkers. The challenge was to take a brand from Sweden and forge deep ties and connections with the hearts and minds of South African consumers.

Our creative answer can be summed up in a single phrase: ONE SOURCE.

• Africa is the one source of humankind, according to evolutionists. We all emerged from the continent’s savannahs.

• All of the ingredients and production process for Absolut Vodka also have one source: a 100km radius around the small village of Åhus in Sweden. This means absolutely everything: every drop of water, every seed of wheat.

One Source was a concept that would enable Absolut, from Sweden, to become the torchbearer for Africa’s new creative revolution. With creativity and African culture as our driving force, we partnered with one of South Africa’s hip-hop icons, Khuli Chana, to co-create a collaboration of pan-African artists - from musicians, painters, photographers and fashion designers, to mural artists, make-up artists, choreographers and dancers from across the continent.

We created a chart-topping hip-hop album called One Source, an award-winning music video for the One Source title track, and a branded ‘making of the campaign’ documentary series.

The results were astonishing. Against a +16% sales volume objective, we achieved +27%.

Against a share increase objective of +20%, we achieved +37.6% during the campaign period alone. As Absolut’s share grew, so those of its rivals declined - and previously-invincible SKYY’s share fell from 50.9% (2015) to 41.4% (2016) to 35.7% (2017). As a result, Absolut became the number one brand, with 48.2%.

Meanwhile, discussion of the campaign eclipsed formerly-strong rivals on social media – and leading DJ ph, SKYY’s brand ambassador, approached Absolut asking to transfer his loyalty to Absolut.

For a total marketing cost of R27.93million ($1.99m), the campaign delivered revenue of R82.2million ($5.87m). This represented an annual revenue increase of 45,1% compared against the previous 12 months. For every Rand spent on marketing, the campaign returned revenue of R2.94, which translated into a profit ROMI of 2.10:1