Hackers reimagines the future bar experience with Absolut

Absolut has invited a group of emerging international creatives — developers, artists, designers and engineers — to a three-day hackathon at the chic Absolut Atelier in Stockholm. Taking place shortly after the launch of Absolut’s new Transform Today campaign, which aims to inspire creative transformation, the event will gather top talent within creative technology to recreate their own idea of the future bar experience.

From Saturday, September 14th, through Monday, September 16th, a creative-playground designed to inspire digital innovation will be created in Absolut’s Atelier lounge near the Royal Opera in downtown Stockholm. Around fifty young creatives from various fields will compete and collaborate in interdisciplinary teams driven by the boundless possibilities of digital innovation.

Building on a history of innovation that ranges from pioneering the continuous distillation process in 1879 to launching the Drinkspiration in 2009, Absolut will brief teams with an assignment to create new ways of using digital branding innovations within bar and retail experiences. The event will be hosted by Absolut and Pernod Ricard executives Alexandre Ricard, Paul Duffy and Jonas Tåhlin. The speakers and performers attending the event are world-leading artists, start-up entrepreneurs, designers and scientists, including Farvash Razavi, Yuri Suzuki, Mike Chen, Atooma, and rising Stockholm urban indie band NONONO.

”It’s a well-known fact that Absolut has trailblazed the world of branding and marketing through a long string of creative collaborations, starting with the groundbreaking Absolut Warhol campaign back in 1986,” says Jonas Tåhlin, Vice President of Global Marketing of Absolut. “Today, much of the creative frontline lies in the digital world, so this event is a next-generation venture in our proud creative tradition. The future Andy Warhol may well be within this group.”

The Absolut Atelier lounge will be transformed into a luxurious, exciting, three-floor interactive “laboratory studio”, where participants will have all available cutting-edge technologies at their disposal for radical digital innovation. The hackathon will be punctuated by presentations, games, performances, and even a bartending course for the participants. The event will be framed by innovative interactive scenography, including digital monitors displaying the “energy” of each room in real-time.

On Monday, September 16th, the creations developed during the hackathon will be presented at a party for 200 specially invited guests from the creative community, who will then have the opportunity to test prototypes and explore the designs. The team that develops the winning creation will be awarded a bottle of Absolut Crystal Pinstripe, of which only 700 were created.

Those who are unable to attend this private event can follow the action on Absolut’s Facebook and Twitter feeds under the hashtag #liquiddata, and will be able to view the final creations at LiquidData.io.