Optus & Bring Launch ‘ReKicked’ Campaign To Celebrate INXS

To celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the award winning INXS album ‘Kick’, OPTUS and BRING have today launched Rekicked – a campaign series of reimagined videos inspired by famous INXS songs including Need You Tonight, Mystify, Never Tear Us Apart and Kick.

Dubbed the ‘ReKickers’, this talent has been tapped to re-interpret tracks from the album in their own special way and open up the album to a new generation of streamers in the process.   The campaign follows their journey to create a series highlighting their individual skill-sets, which include music, extreme sport, dance, culture and mixology.

BRING Creative Director, James Griffiths said: “We’ve worked hard to assemble a great team of talent to pay homage to this iconic album. Reimagining the songs is no easy task, so we wanted people with a genuine link to the band and an authentic story to tell. With our Rekickers, we’ve found just that and we can’t wait to showcase their content over the next few weeks”.

OPTUS Associate Director of Content & Entertainment, Bushra Abel, said “Optus is honoured to partner with INXS to pay tribute to one of most important albums of the 1980s. We are always looking at ways to deliver game changing experiences for our customers and reimagining one of Australia’s most iconic albums with today’s top talent was one we couldn’t pass up. We hope our customers and Australia enjoy the content and can come along to our exclusive Rekicked event in December.”

Big INXS fans, indie pop duo, Client Liaison will be covering the band’s most streamed song, ‘Need You Tonight’; Australian Professional Skateboarder, 17 year old Poppy Starr Olsen is kickflipping her way through ‘Mystify’ on a (Vision Psycho) deck featured on the album cover;  Renowned dancer Maddie Peat gives a moving rendition to ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ and award-winning mixologist Mikey Enright has created a cocktail infusion of ‘Kick’.

Poppy Starr launches the campaign – her Mystify Rekick film, sees her skating six iconic locations from the bands early days. Starting on the Northern Beaches, where the band met,  her skate tour takes in Avalon, Narrabeen, Paddington, Bondi and more.  Said Poppy; “As a big fan of the eighties, and its music I was honoured to be asked to interpret Mystify in my own way.”

Maddie Peat –  dancer, interprets Never Tear Us Apart deciding to drill into the emotion of the track with her performance commencing from the cliffs of Whale Beach (where the band first played) towards the ocean, symbolic of the bands roots and where they headed – across the sea to conquer abroad.

Mikey Enright – Mixologist,  creates a signature cocktail for the album’s title track, Kick.   Mikey met with band member Kirk Pengilly, and the two shared annecdotes over the bar of Mikey’s award winning ‘Barbershop’ bar in the heart of the Sydney CBD.

Said Enright; “I have never before used stories and sounds and translated them into flavours. This project has pushed my skills to the limits, but I think that the final product is a true representation of the album and when people taste it and hear the story behind it, I hope they’ll agree.”

Client Liaison will launch next week with Need You Tonight.

The campaign will culminate in a Rekicked party with all four talent at a legendary Sydney venue.  The event will mix live performances across skate and dance and fuse them with an exclusive Client Liaison set. The new Kick cocktail will also be revealed for the first time.

Optus customers can enter to WIN tickets to the exclusive Rekicked party in December. Accessing the original and Rekicked music is easy for Optus customers on eligible mobile and prepaid plans on Google Play Music, iHeartRadio and Spotify apps (subscriptions required) on mobile phones and tablets.   The campaign is designed to promote the Optus data free streaming offer which enables Optus customers to stream without limits on with dedicated music partners.

All content will be housed HERE

The Rekicked campaign is the latest collaboration in a two-year partnership between Optus and BRING’s parent company, Universal Music Australia. The strategic alliance has produced a number of exclusive performances and content moments including Lorde and Justin Bieber on Cockatoo Island, a Crowded House Live streamed studio show and small intimate gigs from the likes of Halsey, 360 and The Preatures.