The Campaign

Companies go to great lengths to avoid faults in their products. We went to great lengths to create one. Monteith’s wanted drinkers to know that their cider contains fresh fruit, not concentrated fruit syrup like their competitors. So we slipped real apple tree twigs into Monteith’s cider boxes. Within a week, New Zealanders were asking for an explanation via facebook, radio and the Monteith’s call centre. After two weeks, we apologised for the ‘mistake’ through PR, press, patched billboards, online and on-pack stickers. Every apology spread our simple message: the fruit in Monteith’s cider comes from a tree, not a can.

The Brief

The goal was to increase sales volumes from the previous year. Another important facet of the campaign was to differentiate Monteith’s from the other ciders on the market. Research showed that people assumed all cider contained fresh fruit, which is not the case. Our aim was to educate our target market of 18 – 35 year olds that Monteith’s contains real crushed fruit, not concentrated fruit syrup like their competitors. Sales figures showed that Monteith’s cider sales had begun to slow. Focus groups discovered that consumers didn’t understand why they should pay more for a box of Monteith’s cider. It was clear we needed to educate drinkers as to Monteith’s unique, fresh fruit point of difference.

Results

The twigged boxes got Monteith’s all over the news and across social media. Radio stations took calls from drinkers who had found twigs in their cider packaging. Monteith’s call centre was inundated with enquiries. On a PR budget of $2,500, we generated over $120,000 of earned media. Over the campaign period, Monteith’s Crushed Cider sales increased by 32% and Monteith’s completely sold out of their 12 packs cider.

Execution

Real twigs from Monteith’s orchards were slipped into the packaging of Crushed Apple cider and Crushed Pear cider 12 packs before they were distributed to liquor stores and supermarkets. After two weeks, and with public complaining about the discovery of twigs in boxes via media and social media, a carefully crafted apology letter and box of twigged Monteith’s Crushed Apple Cider was sent to key influencers and media. Billboards were hurriedly patched and cider boxes were stickered with warning labels. Our PR strategy was to make every piece of communication feel like it genuinely came from Monteith’s as opposed to from their advertising agency. The campaign went exactly to plan. Thorough briefing of all customer facing staff meant that complaints and enquiries were turned into an opportunity to promote Monteith’s point of difference every step of the way.

The Situation

Monteith’s Brewing Company is New Zealand’s original cider brand. Established in 1868 they have a long, proud history of creating perfectly crafted beers and ciders. Monteith’s use only freshly crushed fruit to make their cider. The problem was that consumers assumed all cider was made from fruit. We needed to reiterate Monteith’s fresh fruit message and educate cider drinkers that not all ciders are equal.

The Strategy

We used twigs to expose the truth: not all cider is made the same. The twigs gave us the opportunity to engage media, key influencers and commentators and start a conversation with them based on a simple message: the fruit in Monteith’s cider comes from a tree, not out of a can like its competitors.