Smirnoff Experience Shanghai

So as you all may know Smirnoff is having four major global events in four major cities all around the world tracing the brands history. This was the second major global event and was held in Shanghai with a line up of high profile acts: Hard-Fi, Tom Middleton, and the DJ, Sasha. These were three major performers all doing something a little different trying to be as original as possible to entertain the massive crowd that showed up. Hard-Fi played side by side with the Shanxi drummers and they showed the world that anything was possible. Here you had an indie band from England playing side by side with a Chinese drum orchestra, thanks Smirnoff for bringing the world that much closer together.

The venue had a drink line up that should have made it to the book of world records. They had a combination of ingredients you could combine to make a total of over 1300 different drinks. That’s a lot of combinations… personally I was having an alcohol free day so I made myself a virgin honey, watermelon mango drink and it was absolutely delightful. It always seems to amaze me when I see a wall lined up with bottled water that comes together to be one massive Smirnoff logo. Whenever I usually go out clubbing and I have a couple of drinks I didn’t use to think about getting myself some water every now and then, however after being a part of Smirnoff for as long as I have I have come to the realization that we all need to drink in intervals and make sure we are getting our share of H20.

Ben and I took the role of being directors for our Smirnoff Experience music video so I spent most of the night interviewing people about how they felt during the night. I got to interview Cia from South Africa, a VJ from Changdu and a lot of really happy people in the crowd. One thing that really made it all that much better was while I was interviewing someone my creative director hit the switch and snow started to fall from the sky, it was truly a magical experience.

While I was taking a break from work I had the opportunity to see Hard-Fi play up close and personal – I’ll be honest with you… I never really liked indie music, hell I didn’t even know what it was until Stephanie Prentice and her lovely mp3 player showed me the way. Seeing Hard-Fi for the first time play live was all too nice for me, I have never been to concert before this Smirnoff trip so every chance I get to see a live performance I take it all in. Plus I enjoy dancing to indie music now… lol. The DJ, Sasha was off the hook! And if anyone sees the footage from the cameras all you can see is me in the front row with Takashi jumping up and down loving the music, letting it consume our bodies, and just dancing our hearts out. All in all the Smirnoff Experience was one original happening event I can’t forget, I’m so looking forward to the next one in Paris.

After the event, Smirnoff held an afterparty at a really, and I mean really, nice venue in Shanghai called The Wall. I know I wrote about a club called Muze II before but this club outdid them all, it had everything I wanted and more - the people, music, and overall look. I didn’t get to stay there for that long because I had a long day of filming, dancing, and running around everywhere but I made sure I danced myself until I couldn’t dance no more….