WATCH Russia which is dedicated to haute horlogerie is now distributed in the leading theaters of Moscow. That is primarily due to the increasingly important role that theaters play in today’s socio-cultural life.

“Theaters per se are the new media capable of bringing a certain set of ideas to the audience by influencing all their sense organs causing a powerful emotional response,” says Natalia Shastik, Editorial Director at MEDIACRAT. “WATCH Russia was one of the first publications in Russia to start employing theaters as communication channels and cater to the unique audience of theater aficionados.”

As of December 2014, the average monthly audience of partnering theaters was 93,000 people.

WATCH Russia is writing about the high art of watch and jewelry making, as well as about such ‘signs of the times’ as cinema and theater, architecture and design, presenting a sort of cross-section of the most critical events and names in the world of culture over the preceding month. The project is headed by Alexander Gafin.

Creative and commercial management of the project is provided by MEDIACRAT.

In the end of October 2014, the event management division of MEDIACRAT successfully organized a Mysteries of Armenia congress for Opel, a leading German car maker and part of General Motors. Forty-five representatives of Opel and its dealers from all over Russia took part in the event. All of them visited Armenia for the first time, discovered a new culture and gained lots of positive impressions.

“We developed a special thematic VIP-program for Opel underscoring the mystical atmosphere of Armenia and its unique natural attractions and historical monuments,” shares Maria Filippova, Advertising Sales Director at MEDIACRAT. “In particular, the guests visited Selim mountain pass, which is part of the Silk Road, and Tatev Monastery situated on the edge of a giant gorge.”

As part of team building activities, a series of master classes and cultural events was also held.

MEDIACRAT team developed and carried out a series of events as part of the Ballantine’s Mentoring Program. The program was commissioned by Pernod Ricard, the agency’s long-term partner and one of the world’s largest producers of luxury alcohol.

The goal of the Ballantine’s Mentoring Program is to tell bartenders in the largest Russian cities about the advantages of Ballantine’s whisky, as well as to teach them to create original cocktails with the legendary whisky as key ingredient. The sessions were hosted by world-famous bartenders. Among them was Sean Kenyon, a mixologist with 30 years of experience and winner of American Bartender of the Year 2014 title.

“The program was held over March-December 2014 in 22 largest cities of Russia, from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Krasnoyarsk and Krasnodar. Each session was attended by over 50 bartenders bringing the total number of program participants to over 1,000 specialists,” notes Armen Jilavian, Managing Director at MEDIACRAT.

MEDIACRAT was in charge of all organizational issues and developed a unique concept, branding and POS materials related to the mentoring program.

At the request of Pernod Ricard, the event management division of MEDIACRAT organized a large-scale event – the Grand Final of a rock music tournament held among young and talented rock bands called WORK&ROCK BATTLE, which was launched by the Scotch whisky Ballantine’s three years ago. The tournament was curated by Grisha Urgant and Mumiy Troll bands, while sound producer Pavlo Shevchuk, music critic Boris Barabanov and host of Nashe Radio Igor Sedov formed the professional judging panel.

The concert held at Stadium Live featured musicians who paved their way to grand final through tough selection process to fight for the main prize – professional album recording. The evening culminated in the performances by headliners Grisha Urgant and Mumiy Troll.

At the request of Novinsky Business Center MEDIACRAT developed the loyalty program called Novinsky Club. The program includes a two-level discount and privilege system for clients, exclusive offers, invites to VIP-events.

In order to assure successful implementation of the project a substantial amount of time was devoted to preparatory works. “We gathered and analyzed huge amount of relevant information and offered Novinsky a number of ways of technical integration and mechanics of the project,” says Madina Besolova, Commercial Director at MEDIACRAT.

At the request of Pernod Ricard, co-leader in the Wines & Spirits sector worldwide, MEDIACRAT developed a new mentoring program for the French cognac brand Martell.

The key goal of Martell’s Mentoring Program is to highlight unique features of Martell cognac, a product of the oldest French cognac house, as well as to strengthen its link with the French ‘art de vivre’ and Paris as its embodiment in the eyes of Russian connoisseurs.

Russian director Alexey Popogrebskiy shot a film called Paris Complimentary about Martell cognac especially for the mentoring program. MEDIACRAT developed the concept of Martell representation in the Paris format, as well as branding, POS materials, tasting scenario and brand ambassador speech.

A the request of Pernod Ricard MEDIACRAT developed and published a brochure called The Time to Be a Gentleman for the legendary Scotch whisky Chivas Regal. The brochure elaborates on and exposes the gentlemanly concept of the brand, relying on the cooperation of Chivas Brothers with the British watchmaker Bremont Chronometers.

The brochure reflects the links between the world of Chivas whisky and British watchmaking in the renaissance of which Bremont brand actively participates today. As a result of this partnership, a new limited edition series of bottles Chivas 12 Made for Gentlemen by Bremont and 12 collectible watches Chivalry were produced.