In December 2010, Russian wireless broadband company Yota staged Yota Space, a two-week celebration of interactive digital art, on a scale never seen before.Following a successful launch in 2009, Yota had already generated high levels of awareness in its key markets. But with the increasing importance of international expansion, Yota needed to create a global impact. Yota needed to create something momentous, bold and ambitious; something that would build an emotional connection with current and potential customers.The internal Yota team turned its back on traditional sponsorship and above-the-line channels. It took the highly risky decision to commit a massive 80% of its total marketing budget to the curation of its own branded cultural event - the world’s biggest digital arts festival. The decision transformed Yota’s marketing strategy from a simple media spend to an IP investment that would tangibly demonstrate the creativity at the heart of Yota.

A two-week digital art extravaganza, Yota Space kicked off on 5th December and ran until the 19th. Transforming a 15,000-sq ft space in a five-floor disused Stalinist-era shopping mall in the centre of St Petersburg into an awe-inspiring exhibition space, Yota Space brought together 23 renowned interactive artists and 26 installations under one roof for the first time ever.The festival was launched by a spectacular projection-mapping show, that provided a platform for a communications drive that reached out to international creative, art, music and national press as well as broadcast media.Over the two-week period global artists premiering their inspirational work, creating a statement about Yota’s creativity and innovation and a providing platform for communicating this to international influential media. This was at the heart of an integrated local and global PR campaign, amplified by broadcast and online, and including a TV show commissioned and syndicated to 19 countries.

Fulfilling its global PR ambition, broadcast coverage of Yota Space has reached more than 21m global viewers across 19 countries. The festival also delivered more than 500 pieces of international press coverage in two weeks, reaching 26.7m people and included glowing reviews in influential international media including The FT, Monocle, Wallpaper*, Wired and Creative Review. Crucially, for Yota, Yota Space has received specific acclaim in markets where the brand had no previous footprint.More than 20,300 people visited Yota Space and international coverage drove 541,852 views on the Yota Space YouTube channel and 190,000 live streams on opening night. Blogger references have reached more than 1.8m unique users and Yota Space gained 86,988 fans and followers on social networks.Rewarding Yota’s ambition to create an international cultural event, Yota Space has been ranked by the FT alongside Art Basel - an outstanding endorsement of Yota’s creativity, culture and ambition.