The Brief

Lifesavers, the iconic ring-shaped candy, was a brand in decline. It has lost relevance in the marketplace to the point where it was about to become discontinued from grocery chains. The challenge was to launch Lifesavers back into the public with a unique summer promotion that would sit underneath a wider campaign designed to help Australians survive the summer, shame free.

Creative Execution

Ever since Clarence Crane developed Lifesavers in 1912 as a treat that wouldn’t melt during the summer, Lifesavers have been synonymous with summertime and the beach. And given that Lifesavers is also a nickname given to the volunteer Lifeguards who patrol Australian beaches every summer, there was a perfect opportunity for the brand to save male beachgoers in a way that resonated with the brand’s fun and slightly ridiculous ideals.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation. As part of a wider campaign to help Australians survive the summer shame free, we took some classic Australian swimsuits, ‘budgie smugglers’ and created Summer Smugglers: a swimming costume fitted with innovative padding technology specifically designed to help conceal the embarrassing effects of cold water. We distributed them to beachgoers in a series of events around Australia. Guys could save themselves from shrinkage by trading in their togs for a pair of the Summer Smugglers. They could also confess their most shameful summer moment online in order to win a pair of the limited edition swimsuits.

Results

Delivered across media channels as an integrated brand building exercise, the effectiveness of the promotion within the wider campaign enabled Lifesavers to grow by 8% in a matter of weeks. Reaching over 740,000 Australians, the interval between purchases of Lifesavers decreased by 40%, making it the brand’s most successful marketing campaign in over 20 years.