Cheers to a Legend
Diageo
Issue 39 | June 2016
Agency
Leo Burnett Sydney
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Andy DiLallo Executive Creative Directors Vince Lagana Grant McAloon Digital Creative Director Kieran Ots Senior Art Director Ben Alden Senior Copywriter Michael Dawson Group Business Director Kate Blackadder
Production Team
Designer Jason Young Digital Designer Janifer Wong Senior Integrated Producer Julie Bourges Senior Producer Michelle Browne Executive Producer Laurent Marcus Production Company MediaMonks Illustration Diego Patino (The Jacky Winter Group)
Other Credits
Senior Business Director Sam McGown Business Director Mikayla Schutz Business Manager Elizabeth Maunsell Head of Connect Strategy Emma Montgomery Media Director Stuart Capel Strategy Director Thomas Miles Communications Strategist Linda Tran Diageo Australia Marketing Manager, Bundaberg Jodi McLeod Marketing and Innovation Director Adam Ballesty Marketing Manager Andrew Oughton Senior Brand Manager Karl Roche Brand Manager Abyan Lokman
Date
September 2015 – March 2016
Background
Diageo-owned Bundaberg Rum was commonly sold in rum-and-cola cans. With more than 125 years of history, Bundy had attained the status of a cultural icon, and was the staple of many Aussie get-togethers and barbecues.
But it had lost its cachet, perceived by younger drinkers as old and tired.
The Bundy needed a refresh, and the can, its most valuable real estate, was the place to rejuvenate it.
Idea
It was common in Australia for drinkers to raise a can to salute a legendary figure.
Building on this, half the face of 11 Aussie legends was emblazoned onto Bundaberg cans.
When two drinkers had matching halves, they could raise a cheer to the legend depicted, among them Pat Cash, Ned Kelly, John Farnham, Aussie Rules football stars, a comedienne, a bank robber and a racehorse.
An image recognition app meant that, when two cans were 'cheered' together, the picture was scanned to launch a video telling the story behind the legend.
But there was a twist. Drinkers could 'mash' two legends together – say the racehorse Phar Lap and Ned Kelly – to get the legend of Phar Kelly, a bank-robbing racehorse.
To cover every conceivable mash-up, Leo Burnett had to write 121 possible legends, each delivered in Bundy's irreverent, laconic tone of voice.
Results
The new cans were launched in the summer lead-up to Australia Day, a big time for parties and picnics, and promoted through outdoor, TV, PR and social media.
The campaign achieved 171m impressions, generated a sales uplift of 10% and saw the production of 24.6m cans sell out.
Our Thoughts
Bundy is a quintessential Aussie brand and this idea is so rooted in Aussie culture – tinnies, barbies, cheeking the famous – that the fit is almost perfect.
But it's underpinned by some very modern-day thinking.
First, there's the idea that a tin isn't just a tin. It can also, via apps and scanning technology, become a vehicle for content that adds to the occasion and the mash-ups allows Bundy, in true Aussie style, to have a lot of fun.
Don't forget either, the complexity behind this project and the sheer hard work put in by Burnett creatives. The scripts - very funny, by the way - had to be written so they could be spliced together so that each hybrid character could be visually coherent.
Great ambition, thinking and craft.