Vice Australia partners with Schweppes for new soft drink range

Youth media brand Vice has partnered with Schweppes Australia’s new soft drink range, ALT, on a four-part co-branded video series and large-scale, roving festival activation.

The Self Portraits video series seeks to help ALT position itself as a brand that doesn’t just talk about self expression, but enables it. Each episode from the series profiles a different person. The two episodes live right now profile Russell Horning, who is popularly known as The Backpack Kid, and Australian female skateboarder Shanae “Sheezy” Collins.

Episodes to follow feature Australian paralympic sprinter, painter and fashion designer Gabriel Cole and Melbourne’s Otis Armada, creators of cultish bootleg dining experiences which honour engaging service, artistic collaboration and creative eating.

Having left its mark on Sugar Mountain Festival and social media, the experiential CTRL + ALT activation leaves Melbourne to feature at Laneway Brisbane on February 10. Attendees will be encouraged to interact with the space, to “Keep Doing You” through an immersive, personalised experience that maximises self-expression/reflection through a giant waterbed, interactive digital ceiling, and GIF photo booth.

The brand partnership was developed in collaboration with Schweppes Australia’s media agency, Carat and creative agency TBWA.

This isn’t the first time Vice and Schweppes have worked together on co-branded content. Their previous collaboration on the Knapsack Bartender series ran for two seasons, visiting Sierra Leone, Romania, Bolivia and Japan. It has recorded over six million views since release.

Schweppes Australia’s GM for marketing Lisa Saunders said, “ALT is a brand that wants to ‘do things differently’, so a partnership with a like-minded collaborator such as Vice was a fantastic opportunity to help us champion the spirit of the individual, and amplify our ”Keep Doing You” campaign.”

Vice Australia MD Michael Slonim said: “What an excellent project to kick things off for our 15th year in Australia. By partnering up with some of our favourite music festivals and young characters that fascinate us, we get to do more of what we love – making engaging, multiscreen video content and truly adding something to the cultural conversation.”