2019 Winners & Shortlists

B018

BrandB018
Product/ServiceB018
EntrantINTERESTING TIMES Beirut, LEBANON
CategoryTravel, Leisure, Retail, Restaurants & Fast Food Chains
Idea Creation INTERESTING TIMES Beirut, LEBANON

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

B018 is an iconic nightclub that opened in Beirut in 1994. The club has been a notorious and controversial icon in Lebanese night life since its opening and has seen Beirut through war and peace, and war and then peace again. The submitted work was a direct mailer which was sent as an invitation to the Lebanese night life community for the reopening of the club after it closed for the first time in its history for eleven weeks due to a full renovation to the interior of the structure.

Background.

Until the 90s, missiles and rockets dominated war-torn Beirut during a time of great suffering and loss. Yet while the war raged on, B018 managed to unite people underground, when they couldn't overground. The nightclub is a representation of the country's history, a sign of hope: a reminder that they danced through a war zone as a form of survival and musical therapy. Over the years, it grew to become a destination for ravers from around the world, however recently, it lost its once refined, mature clientele, to a younger, less polished crowd. To combat this, the management team undertook a relaunch of the club. They aimed to stay true to their roots, and not hide from the history of B018 while reinventing the iconic venue. We were tasked with positioning the club once more at the top of people's minds, while honoring the history and significance of the location.

Describe the creative idea.

B018 defined Lebanese nightlife for 25 years and holds nostalgic memories for most of the local partiers. We needed to find a way to re-enliven the remembrance of a club that is defined as the birthplace of electronic music in Lebanon.. To do this, while the club was undergoing renovation, we extracted the tiles from the old dance floor and sent them to our audience: the people that have been dancing their nights away on that same dance floor for the past 25 years. The tile came with a note inviting them to come and inaugurate the new dance floor. These tiles hold tremendous sentimental value, and we were able to give back to our community and the scene by offering them a piece of the birthplace of electronic music, and a piece of history. They now possess part of B018's legacy, and a physical symbol of Beirut's post-war renaissance.

Describe the strategy.

B018 was facing an audience problem: those who used to be loyal to the club and frequented it in the many years its been open, had started to deviate to its fierce competition. Bigger, glitzier clubs with aggressive marketing practices dominate the Lebanese nightlife scene, and with big names flying in to DJ the several parties on any given weekend, B018 began to loose its audience. In order to get them back, we needed to remind them of this nightlife giant, its history, its significance, and their love for the venue. We needed to give them a piece of the past and a memory of the many cherished nights that they spent dancing their hearts out at B018.

Describe the execution.

The stones were extracted during the renovation, right before the launch. They were kept in their square shape to preserve the original form and the way that they appeared to the dancers who saw them time and time again over the past 25 years. They were then cleaned and wrapped in a matte black casing that contained the message inviting our community to come by for the opening night and help us inaugurate the new dance floor, while keeping a piece of the old. The 200 stones were then delivered to local influencers, scenesters, and B018 loyalists the week before the opening and served as the opening night social media campaign through the user generated content they created.

List the results.

Salience was the strongest asset that the stones garnered. For the full week before the opening, social media was flooded with content on Instagram from key members in the community posting their receipt of the coveted stone. As the stones were delivered day to day, we had musicians, artists, directors, DJs, producers, writers, dancers, and party-goers pushing the opening of the renovated club from their Instagram accounts, without any prompt from the venue itself. The stone became a coveted asset - one that everyone wanted to posses, and be seen with. The night of the opening, the club reached full capacity a few times over, with more people waiting outside to get in, then there were inside.

Credits

Name Company Role
Mo Alghossein Interesting Times Creative Partner
Ali El Sayed Interesting Times Associate Creative Director
Dany Hawa Interesting Times Junior Copywriter
Sara Samad Interesting Times Account Manager