ANTIdiaRy
by Rihanna
BRIEF → Create a campaign for Rihanna’s ANTI as an exclusive for Samsung phones.
CHALLENGE → Promote the album without any of its music.
IDEA → ANTIdiaRy, a cryptic diary and treasure hunt for fans to unlock ANTI.
EXPRESSION → Mobile, Content, Design, Social, Tech, OOH.
IMPACT → Went platinum faster than any album in history.
Mobile Experience
ANTIdiaRy was accessed with a mobile website featuring a series of rooms inspired by Rihanna’s life story. Over the course of the campaign the rooms were unlocked to reveal exclusive content and hidden clues teasing the album release. Early access was granted to fans on Samsung phones.
ANTIdiaRy user experience
ANTIdiaRy Content
Every few weeks another room was unlocked with its own hashtag to help fans share what they found inside and create a frenzy online. Those with Samsung phones received a link to download ANTI free, before anyone else.
The exclusive album unlocked for Samsung owners
Photography by Dennis Leupold
Episodic films told the story to each room’s theme
Exploring rooms led fans to clues
Photography by Dennis Leupold
Each room had its own characters connected to the story
Photography by Jim Fiscus
Photography by Jim Fiscus
Design & Art Direction
Fans navigated the campaign story with a system of symbols and visual cues developed in collaboration with Rihanna. A balance of powerful imagery mixed with iconography, and even braille, sustained intrigue from the press and kept fans speculating on socials.
ANTIdiaRy logotype system
System of icons developed for ANTIdiaRy’s mobile experience
System of icons developed for ANTIdiaRy’s mobile experience
Game mechanics guided users
Motion style with “glitch” effect
Motion style with “glitch” effect
Motion style with “glitch” effect
Photography by Jim Fiscus
OOH in Times Sq and Herald Sq
OOH in Penn Station
Full access to ANTIdiaRy was exclusive to Samsung owners
Audio clues using braille
Social & Experiential
Leading fans through the campaign was a treasure hunt with clues and cryptic content in each of the ANTIdiaRy’s rooms. Fans who shared what they found on social were surprised with VIP invitations to immersive pop-up experiences that went deeper into the story.
Map of ANTIdiaRy’s rooms
The key was used to attend VIP experiences in hidden locations (shown here: Ipswich, MA)
VIP pop-up events for fans who unlocked clues
Creative Technology
A mix of technology was pioneered for the experience to include 360º photography and customized selfies within ANTIdiaRy’s rooms. Eventually we broke the fourth wall by hiding clues in the source code for fans to discover.
360º captures of each room
Each room has its own clues and a social challenge
Image files hidden in ANTIdiaRy’s source code contained clues
Image files hidden in ANTIdiaRy’s source code contained clues
Helping an album go platinum faster than any other in history.
Outline:
ANTIdiaRy is an episodic campaign based on Rihanna’s life story to promote her 8th studio album, ANTI. Spanning over nine months, it included an array of assets for TVCs, film, social, experiential, digital, OOH, and a mobile website which served as the campaign hub. There, fans got exclusive content and participated in an online treasure hunt for clues about the album. After months of speculation from fans and the press, ANTI was unlocked exclusively to Samsung Galaxy owners as a free download. ANTI immediately broke records for downloads and within 14 hours it went platinum, faster than any album in history.
Background:
ANTIdiaRy was part of a partnership between Samsung and Roc Nation, which granted a window of exclusivity to Rihanna’s ANTI before its official release. ANTI was one of the most anticipated pop albums of the last decade with 80+ million fans anxiously speculating about it.
Challenges:
The first and most obvious challenge was that the album wasn’t finished yet so no music from ANTI was available for promotions. And, announcing to 80+ million fans their favorite artist’s new album would be exclusive to Galaxy users was also very controversial. A large percentage of Rihanna fans were iPhone users, and she wanted the promotion to be inclusive of all her fans, even if the album itself was to be exclusive to Galaxy owners. We embraced this by integrating clues and VIP experiences into the content of the campaign that engaged all her fans while they waited for the album’s release.
Impact:
Fastest album in history to go platinum (14 hours)
13 million streams in its first 24 hours
3.4 billion impressions
9.5 million engagements
#ANTIdiaRy trended globally on Twitter
Mobile sales generated Samsung’s best quarter in over two years
Press
New York Magazine → Rihanna’s Free Anti Release Is the Biggest Power Move of Her Career
Billboard → Here’s An Extended Look at Rihanna’s ‘Anti Diary’
The FADER → What Is Rihanna Up To?
AdAge → Rihanna Invites You Into Her Cryptic Lair in Ambitious Samsung Mobile Effort
2017 D&AD Graphite Pencil / Branding, Digital Brand Expression
2017 D&AD Graphite Pencil / Branded Content & Entertainment
2017 One Show GOLD / Mobile Gaming
2017 One Show Merit / Design, Digital
2017 One Show Merit / Mobile
2016 Cannes Lions Bronze / Integrated led by Promo
2016 Cannes Lions Bronze / Cyber, Influencer
2016 Cannes Lions Bronze / Cyber, Community Building
2016 Cannes Lions Shortlist / Cyber, Video
2016 Cannes Lions Shortlist / Promo & Activation
2016 Cannes Lions Shortlist / Integrated led by Mobile
2016 Cannes Lions Shortlist / Entertainment
2016 Clio Awards Silver, Integrated Campaign
2016 Clio Awards Bronze, Digital Mobile in Music
2016 Clio Awards Shortlist, Partnerships
2016 Digiday Awards Best in Show
2016 Digiday Awards Best Creative
2016 LIA Gold / Design, Branded Content
2016 LIA Bronze / Branded Entertainment, Virtual Reality
Team
Brands → Samsung, Roc Nation, Fenty
Agency → R/GA
Client Team → Marc Mathieu, Jesse Coulter, Kristin Harrer
Creatives → Adam Housman, Ankita Arvind, Ashlye Vaughan, Ben Kravitz, Brian Kuzma, Cesar Marchetti, Denise Knickerbocker, Diego de la Maza, Felipe Ferreira, Frank Yandolino, Helder Santo, Jenny Holmes, Jenny Wu, Jodha Kandola, Joe Wanko, John Bermingham, Kathy Monahan, Kris Pito, Lambert Torres, Madeline Garber, Oscar Llarena, Randi Cohen, Rene Van Wonderen, Tristan Kincaid, Vitor Andrade, Xavier Gallego,
Creative Partners → Punch Drunk, Willo Perron, 72andSunny, Edelman
Directors → Yoann Lemoine, Brett Foraker
Photographers → Dennis Leupold, Jim Fiscus
Set Design → Willo Perron
Production → Iconoclast, R/GA
VFX → Yoann Lemoine, Framestore
The ANTIdiaRy story was developed by Rihanna’s team, Punch Drunk and Yoannn Lemoine in collaboration with Samsung. A multichannel advertising campaign and connections plan was developed by 72andSunny, with R/GA leading digital strategy and build, which included design, UX, content and development, while coordinating with Edelman for social strategy and Rosetta for CRM strategy. Rihanna’s tour designer, Willo Perron, led set design for the campaign shoot.