SOLO LUCKY UNDIES

TitleSOLO LUCKY UNDIES
BrandSCHWEPPES
Product / ServiceSOLO
CategoryA02. Best Use of Merchandising/In-store Marketing
EntrantBMF Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Entrant Company:BMF Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Sales Promotion/Advertising Agency:BMF Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Warren Brown BMF Creative Founder
Dylan Taylor BMF Executive Creative Director
Dennis Koutoulogenis BMF Creative Director/Copywriter
Jake Rusznyak BMF Art Director
Paul Bruce BMF Art Director
Dean Hunt BMF Copywriter
Piero Ruzzene BMF Copywriter
Flavio Fonseca BMF Art Director
Rebecca Oxenbould BMF Group Account Director
Doni Savvides BMF Account Director
Alison Tilling BMF Account Director
Jennie Boyd BMF Account Manager
Christina Aventi BMF Planning Director
Josh Akmens BMF Interactive Producer
Angela Graham BMF Social Media Manager
Alex Macarthur BMF Production Manager
Basir Salleh BMF Art Buyer
Mel Herbert BMF Agency Producer
Iva Madderom BMF Graphic Artist
Martin Holley BMF Head of Flash Development

The Brief

Solo is an iconic Australian soft drink, and sponsor of our national football team. With millions of fans supporting their side, the World Cup was chance to (i) make some brand noise (ii) boost slow winter sales. However, our main competitor, Coca-Cola, had much bigger budgets, and is an official FIFA sponsor (so South Africa, and even the words “World Cup” were off limits). So how could a small Aussie player take on the big boys? We needed something very different to get exposure and truly engage fans, creating impact well beyond our modest media spend, and driving sales.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Instead of making TV ads, we made underwear: SOLO LUCKY UNDIES. Lucky undies help you score. So we produced 225,000 pairs for fans to wear to send luck to the team in South Africa. We gave them away with purchase, promoted them in outdoor, radio, online films starring real fans, a luck-generating website, a touring “luck truck”, virtual undies for social media profiles and personalized facebook films featuring football stars. Our hope was that fans would want to buy Solo to get the undies, and each pair of undies would be a wearable ad for Solo, prompting further sales.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Football fans got into our Lucky Undies: - All 225,000 found eager owners. - Coles Supermarkets moved 20,000 on day one. - The undies were everywhere: the Brandenburg Gate, on the Naked Cowboy in New York, on Olympic athletes, statues, eBay, South African witchdoctors, and wherever fans gathered, including World Cup stadiums and FIFA Live Sites. - Solo Facebook loyalty increased over 3000%. Which helped us kick our goal of making noise: - $3.2 million in media coverage/PR - almost 5 times media spend (and over 50 million impressions). And driving sales: - Solo sales up 22% year on year.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Solo is a football sponsor with an irreverent tone of voice and limited budget, so a quirky, partially self-liquidating promotion like Lucky Undies, suited the brand perfectly for the World Cup. The idea is universal - every Australian has a pair of lucky underwear that’s helped them win a game, get a job, or get lucky with the opposite sex. And particularly appeals to superstitious football fans (with their lucky rituals and charms), especially the millions who couldn’t make it to South Africa, and wanted a fun way to send support – and luck – to their side.