The Campaign

In Australia, branded content is the new black. Spurred by marketers need to communicate with consumers on their terms and in many different and challenging ways, the tried and tested traditional routes of old are no longer the go-to channels. Instead, from networks to production companies, everyone is predicting branded content to be the #1 revenue generator over the next 12 months. Alcohol brands face heavy restrictions as regards TV advertising and so we had the campaign challenge of not being able to actually show any James Squire product before 830pm. In addition, because SBS is a government-owned station, commercial integration within programming is not allowed. Despite these challenges, we managed to create the inspiring James Squire Spice Trail series on SBS featuring well-respected chef, Peter Kuruvita. Through the strategic use of on-air short form content combined with longer stories and recipes housed online, we took our discerning viewers on a magical journey and positioned James Squire as the perfect companion to the culinary delights offered by the legendary Spice Trail.

Results

James Squire had always been lauded as the beer for 'discerning drinkers'. Whilst continued loyalty was critical, our challenge was to get 7 very different beers sitting happily within the regular drinker's repertoire. We knew that James Squire appealed to the 'curious explorer' whose experience of culture and travel was heightened by new food experiences and interesting stories. Our plan was to put James Squire beer at the very heart of food, travel and storytelling. SBS, with their 'Six Billion Stories and Counting' mantra, dedicated food programming and loyal viewers provided us with the perfect platform to execute our strategy. The desire to create compelling stories led us to the notion of creating branded content pieces that could both be hosted online and on-air. Peter Kuruvita, world-renowned chef, owner of restaurant Flying Fish and 'face'' of SBS, was identified as the perfect ambassador for the James Squire brand. With his natural gift for storytelling, and his experience of exotic cultures and foreign travel, together we developed the concept for the series - the James Squire Spice Trail. The 7 films took the viewer on a voyage of culinary discovery, uncovering new dishes inspired by the tastes and textures of the original Spice Trail regions and pairing them perfectly with the flavours of the 7 individual beers from the James Squire range. Each 5 minute film was hosted online and promoted on air via a 15 sec and 1 min teaser. Once online, the viewer could delve into each recipe, discover the history and flavours of the beer, be inspired by the matching of beers with other dishes and be entertained by Peter's personal stories. To complete the viewer journey, we gave away a trip to Indonesia to two lucky curious explorers.

We produced 3 versions of 7 different James Squire-spice infused recipes, each lovingly designed and cooked by Peter Kuruvita. 1. The 15" teaser - pre- 2030, it alerted viewers to the existence of The Spice Trail and invited them to stay tuned to discover more. 2. The 1 minute segment - airing post 2030, it drove the James Squire association, gave viewers a taste of the dishes and directed them online to a dedicated Spice Trail hub. 3. Online, viewers were treated to the full video content of each recipe and engaged further by Peter's awe-inspiring stories!

2.9 million culture seekers have been impacted by our on-air branded content pieces. So far there have been over 3,500 streams of the uncut versions online. Each of the 7 films has been viewed for an average of 2 minutes, considerably higher than the normal average viewing time of video content online. The competition to win a trip to Indonesia, a key region of The Spice Trail, is still running but after only 6 days, we had received over 2,500 entries, far beyond normal SBS benchmarks for promotions. As a result of our partnership with Peter Kuruvita, all of the James Squire beers are now stocked in Peter's restaurants, and even better, each of the 7 recipes he created for us regularly appear on the Flying Fish menu itself!