The Campaign

Branded Content/Entertainment in Australia is relatively free of restrictions and regulations. However, the brand or funding source, must be openly disclosed to the audience. This applies to all main media. Within TV, of the five main Free-To-Air networks, two of them have significant restrictions; the national government-owned ABC can have absolutely no branded content. The other, SBS, has considerable restrictions. The current climate in Australia regarding branded entertainment, is one of major commercial growth and momentum. Online platforms are the most popular for placement of branded entertainment, but TV is by far the most desirable and the most difficult to secure. Independent estimates of 25% growth for branded content on TV in 2012 are common.

Results

After running the same TVC for 10 years Ice Break was losing relevance with its target audience. We needed to shake it up. Aussie blokes use Ice Break as a motor to get them through the day. So we turned this product benefit into an online series called 'Add A Motor To It'. However, with only a tiny budget for media, we had to find an interesting way to launch the show. The answer was clear: add a motor to a couch and make it the fastest couch in the world. There was a lot of pressure riding on the ‘couch stunt’ as it was the primary way for us to build an audience for AAMTI. It needed to generate PR coverage, drive YouTube views and launch the series. The stunt was organized for two days before the YouTube launch of AAMTI. This was designed to give us the time to generate the views and virality needed to ensure YouTube ranking success (a 48-hour window, based on YT’s algorithms). It also meant that any media coverage we received would coincide with the first episode of the show going live on YouTube. All we needed to do now was go as fast as possible on a couch.

Our target audience are highly involved online content consumers and participators. We used a customized YouTube channel to broadcast the show and Facebook to leverage the dialogue around it. Each episode included an Ice Break ad created by an Ice Break drinker. On the AAMTI channel fans could download the theme song, and with a special AAMTI gadget that plugged into your car stereo, everyone could make their car sound like a roaring V8. Our budget for mainstream media was limited so we created the 'World's Fastest Couch Stunt' to launch the show; instantly gaining coverage across mainstream media channels.

Media coverage: PR and virality accounted for $1.3m in earned media value. Over 14 minutes of national TV coverage. Featured in most Australian, capital city daily papers. Myriad international publications and major online publishers. Motoring and young male sites featured heavily. Drive YouTube views for the ‘fastest couch’. No.1 YouTube ‘most watched video of the week’ in the Entertainment category. No.2 overall. 17 YouTube honours. Over 650k views. Drive interest in AAMTI; AAMTI launched to great success. Viewers spent an average 14 minutes on the AAMTI YouTube channel in the first 3 weeks. Campaign average (8 weeks) was 8.5 mins. $2.9m in earned media value for the AAMTI campaign. 32 YouTube honours. Facebook community grew 32.5%. Greatest week of sales in the brand’s history.