BELIEVE

Bronze Spike

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TitleBELIEVE
BrandLION BREWERIES
Product / ServiceSTEINLAGER BEER
EntrantDDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Entrant Company:DDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Advertising Agency:DDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Toby Talbot DDB Group New Zealand Group Executive Creative Director
Regan Grafton DDB Group New Zealand Creative Director
Damian Galvin DDB Group New Zealand Art Director
Rory McKechnie DDB Group New Zealand Copy Writer
Paul Hankinson DDB Group New Zealand Head of Copy
Judy Thompson DDB Group New Zealand Head of Television
Tania Jeram DDB Group New Zealand Agency Producer
Scott Wallace DDB Group New Zealand Managing Partner
Jonathan Rea DDB Group New Zealand Account Manager
Danny Philips Lion Nathan Beer Marketing & Sponsorship Director
Todd Gordon Lion Nathan Marketing Manager
Adam Stevens Robbers Dog Director
Mark Foster Robbers Dog Producer
Ginny Loane DOP
Andrew Beattie Make-up design /prosthetics
Paul Maxwell Offline Editor
Jon Cooper Coopers of Franklin Road Sound Design
Pete Ritchie Toybox Grade
Stefan Coory Blockhead Online
Peter Van der Fluit Liquid Studios Music Composer
Matt Webster DDB RAPP Tribal Copywriter

The Campaign

New Zealand’s biggest event in decades, the Rugby World Cup was upon us. We needed to usurp official Rugby World Cup sponsor Heineken and create an association with the event, when we were legally forbidden from mentioning any connection between our brand and the event. Our campaign idea was to bring back the iconic white can that New Zealanders were drinking last time we won and hosted the World Cup, back in 1987. We then positioned the can as a lucky charm for this year’s cup. We used TV, online and print to create the story of a man saving his white can from ’87, for the next time the All Blacks won. Follow up communications encouraged consumers to do the same, and save one for the win. We managed to do this without ever mentioning the World Cup, the All Blacks, or any of the venues or dates of the tournament.

Success of the Campaign

The Steinlager white can is currently the number one canned beer in the country with 2.5 of 3 million units sold, and a further run ordered. Tens of thousands of fans are now active followers of the brand online, we started with zero followers when the campaign launched. Prompted, consumers recall Steinlager as the most recognizable official supporter of the World Cup, even though it is not an official supporter at all. Even better, it polls twice as high as official beer Heineken. Steinlager currently enjoys the highest brand adoration level on record, with all 5 Steinlager variants also enjoying a halo sales effect.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

A TV spot told the story of a fan saving a white Steinlager can from the original Rugby World Cup celebrations, for the next time they won. At the same time, we relaunched the white can in question, with announcement print and outdoor striking a nostalgic chord with the can and the tournament. Then, we launched our facebook app, The Steinlager Mantelpiece. Print and online drove fans here and invited them to save one of our white cans for the (world cup) win, on our virtual mantelpiece, just like the hero of the TVC had. They were incentivized to do this by the promise of All Black legends visiting fans’ homes to ensure their cans were where they said they were. The campaign will then hit another gear when the World Cup concludes, with holders of unopened white cans going into the draw to open them with the (hopefully) new world champion All Blacks.