Stardust for Bowie
Studio Brussel
Issue 38 | March 2016
Agency
DDB Brussels
Creative Team
Creative Odin Saillé Peter Ampe Antoinette Ribas Gregory Ginterdaele
Production Team
Production Maarten Breda Sven Verfaille Benjamin Hiffe Christophe Ghesquière Maarten Van Daele Francis Lippens Romy Vierhouten PR Kenn Van Lijsebeth
Date
January 2016
Background
David Bowie had a special fondness for everything that had to do with the universe. Belgian radio station Studio Brussel wanted to give Bowie a fitting tribute: his own constellation in the universe. Along with the Belgian public space observatory MIRA, Studio Brussel registered seven stars in the form of Bowie's iconic thunderbolt. These are near Mars and are visible from all over the world.
Idea
The newborn constellation immortalised Bowie. The homage to the 'Starman' was linked to an online action, "Stardust for Bowie", developed on Google Sky. Radio listeners and fans of Bowie could create a personal tribute in the Bowie constellation at www.stardustforbowie. be. Each visitor could choose a favourite Bowie song and leave a short personal text in the shape of a star. Every participant was thus able to make the constellation shine a little brighter and give Bowie eternal recognition.
Results
The campaign became a trending topic on Twitter immediately after the launch. After one hour 2,000 people had participated.
The campaign received impressive media coverage and featured on international blogs, news websites and advertising blogs and on the front page of Belgium's biggest newspaper and on national news TV.
Our Thoughts
This is a brand doing social properly and demonstrating not so much its brand values as the human values of grief, nostalgia and a desire to share feelings. All this would have been embarrassing if client and agency had not seized the moment. Because the idea went live within a couple of days of David Bowie's death, it was topical, relevant and utterly appropriate. People who wanted to show they cared about this clever but fundamentally decent man now could. Many felt that Bowie was more than just another rock star. Studio Brussel caught the mood and turned him into a constellation.