Publicis Circumvents Russian Drinking Laws with New Year Gift

In Russia, exchanging New Year’s gifts in the run up to the end of the year is a popular tradition. More often than not, those gifts are some form of alcoholic beverage. Publicis got involved by sending champagne to their clients. 

One tiny problem.

It’s illegal to drink alcohol in Russian workplaces.

Publicis got round those pesky laws with clever bit of platform-hacking. They sent the champagne in packaging that allowed clients to change their phones‘ geolocations – ‚teleporting‘ them to parts oft the world where they could escape the rule of law. The bottles were delivered with QR codes that led to a site that allowed clients to take and post photos with new geodata linked to lawless territories like the Western Sahara, Bir-Tawil between Egypt and Sudan, the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China sea, and the Antarctic. 

And so Publicis has made what might be the most desirable New Year's gift in the whole of Russia - alcohol, that you can crack open and start drinking in the office, without breaking the law.

The creators are keen to stress that the idea is just a ‘technological joke’ designed to encourage clients to bypass formalities and start celebrating the New Year as soon as possible.  .”But at the same time,” the team says, “it’s a New Year’s miracle for our partners, clients and colleagues.”

The teleporting booze bottles may be a tech trick worth of Rick and Morty, but this time round the idea was devised by the team at Leo Burnett Moscow.