Brazil is the country where the most transgender people are killed each year. On average, one trans person is killed every 48 hours (source: Transgender Europe).

This alarming violence happens inside a context where trans people are completely marginalized and basically not seen by the mainstream society, given that mass media rarely addresses this problem, so very few people talk about it.

Along with this, in 2017 Brazil was facing a massive wave of art censorship, coming from far right groups that were using all means to shut down LGBT art exhibitions. The scenario was tough for everyone fighting for progressivist causes and a specially for those fighting for better society where all genders had the right to live in peace.

Absolut Art Resistance is a project to fight transphobia using Brazil's art censorship wave as an opportunity to spark debate around intolerance.

In partnership with powerful voices inside the artistic trans community, we released the original track "ABSOLUTAS" and an exclusive music video, along with a 160 foot mural in the biggest open art gallery of Latin America, providing a massive platform to amplify these unheard voices.

We knew far right groups would probably go against our campaign, so we knew we were going to face haters. But we also knew the LGBT movement had a strong voice and could come along to support the cause.

We launched the campaign opening a huge debate about gender, coexistence, and respect, bringing light to the struggle faced by the transgender community to exist.

All of that gave a lot of visibility to those who otherwise wouldn't have a voice in mainstream society.

We uploaded a video on Facebook showing Absolut's historical presence in many art movements that fought for progressivist causes. We targeted everyone, including people outside the liberal bubble, sparking conversation and preparing the scenario for our main assets.

This was essential to understand the behavior of possible haters, and also to identify several users who defended the brand.

Then we launched the music video on Facebook, Spotify, Youtube, Vevo and programmatic media to this audience, who were already engaged.

An intense work of listening and responding happened on our social pages, to engage with everyone, and also dialogue with haters to create a better debate, pushing the conversation forward.

Along with it, a 160 foot mural was painted in the biggest open art gallery of São Paulo as a way to leave behind a legacy for the city that brought visibility and pride to the transgender community.

The consumption desire went up to 40%. The brand increased sales volume in 2pp and gained 4pp in market share. The campaign tripled the number of brand lovers, creating a new generation of brand advocates who connect with what the brand stands for.

We reached 13.9 million people in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, that were 96% of the briefing target. Overall, it got 35 million views, with more than 250 million impacts and more than 6 million earned media impressions.

Our engagement rates went up to 63% as brand advocates not only watched the video several times and posted pictures of the mural, but also supported our initiative with massive comments and shares, outnumbering by far all the haters.

The song became an anthem for transgender community, the mural became part of São Paulo's free LGBT walking art tour, and background for LGBT demonstrations.

We understood that the subject of the campaign was very controversial. Precisely because of this we tried to understand which target would be more willing to capture our message and support our cause.

Therefore, we did several media searches to find groups of people with characteristics that could be scaled to the population. So we have assembled various media clusters based on interests and web browsing behavior.

After defining all of these clusters, we implemented the campaign on Facebook, Programmatic Media, Youtube, Spotify and Vevo, while also placing Outdoors in the streets of São Paulo, guaranteeing visibility and conquering several advocates to our cause.

The efficiency of the clusters ensured that the haters were outnumbered by the brand's advocates, who were faithful supporters of our campaign.

Historically, Absolut always partnered with artists that were ahead of their time and had a strong importance in movements of women's rights, LGBT rights, and progressivist causes, such as Keith Haring, Joyce Tenneson, Andy Warhol, Chevelle Moore, among others.

In 2017, the brand saw that their image as a connector of progress in society and their artistic presence was fading, as the general public perceived Absolut basically as another brand of premium vodka.

So they came to us with the challenge of creating a campaign that would place Absolut as a brand that drove progress and stood by important causes of our present time through art. What they wanted was a campaign that would respond to all of that while bringing visibility and relevance to the brand, generating a closer identification with brand ambassadors.