• by Larissa Faw , August 4, 2014

Red Bull may give you wings, and now, it's taking flight on Twitter. For the energy drink's upcoming Air Race in Ascot, UK August 16-17, Red Bull UK is partnering with agency Darewin to bring the excitement of the event to Twitter streams.

For the campaign, the first tweet features a digital stunt plane whose graphic-designed plumes break through the Twitter design code and into other tweets. Then, @RedBullUK will display additional digital imagery tricks from the stunt plane in its feed.

"The Red Bull Air Race is a global championship that attracts renowned pilots and is known for extraordinary air feats. It was the event that inspired us," said Darewin Founder and Creative Director Wale Gbadamosi-Oyekanmi. 

"We wanted to take the wonder you feel when you watch stunt planes do something unexpected, and bring that feeling to Twitter. That's how we came up with the idea of the first-ever Twitter-based stunt plane."

This is Darewin's inaugural project with Red Bull. The agency worked closely with Red Bull to define the design constraints and get a sense of what the brand was looking for. Red Bull executives even helped with testing.

"Early on, we told them that we like to produce things that didn't exist before, and push the boundaries of what people are expecting," says Gbadamosi-Oyekanmi. "They said they felt the same way about their own brand, and very quickly it felt like we understood each other."

Still, it was a complicated execution. "You have to create it differently for both desktop and mobile users, and it requires a lot of precision," says Gbadamosi-Oyekanmi. "We didn't work with Twitter, but we had great creatives on board who were dedicated to making it as good as possible." 

The campaign runs across Red Bull UK's social media channels, as well as Darewin's own social networks. "The great thing about Red Bull is that they understand entertainment and aren't looking for things that are safe; they want to captivate people," says Gbadamosi-Oyekanmi. "Our values are in line so it's easy to build on each other's expectations and ideas and come up with stuff that we both really want to make because we think they're cool."

Red Bull plans on additional initiative to support the upcoming air show, though the brand has not released specific details. Gbadamosi-Oyekanmi hints, "Keep your eyes on the sky — even when you're on Twitter."