BLOCKER THE PSYCHIC ROACH

TitleBLOCKER THE PSYCHIC ROACH
BrandTAB
Product / ServiceTAB
CategoryA09. Best use or integration of digital or social media
EntrantANALOGFOLK Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Entrant Company ANALOGFOLK Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Contributing Company ANALOGFOLK Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production Company VERSUS Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Jack Brown Analogfolk Creative Technologist
Gabor Zins Analogfolk Creative Technologist
Jenn Aspinwall Analogfolk Senior Creative
Pia Chaudhuri Analogfolk Senior Creative
Stephen Levin Analogfolk Senior Producer
Tom Hull Analogfolk Client Partner
Matt Grogan Analogfolk Executive Creative Director
Matt Robinson Analogfolk Managing Director

The Campaign

There are no restrictions or regulations on Digital branded content in Australia.

Results

New South Wales betting agency TAB wanted to increase bets on first try scorers during Australia’s 2013 State of Origin rugby league series, an interstate battle that pits the Queensland Maroons vs. the New South Wales Blues. In addition to increasing bets, TAB wanted the idea to reach new consumers and earn PR and media attention. We targeted males who love rugby but don’t bet with TAB or any other agency. They were familiar with TAB, but would need some kind of external motivation to put money down. Simply mass-advertising a retail offer wouldn’t cut it. We needed to create a personalised experience to draw fans in and get them excited about supporting their team with a bet. Our idea was to get individual fans excited about betting on their team through a psychic cockroach (the Blues’ mascot) named Blocker. The cockroach would help fans choose a player to bet on through live, personal psychic predictions streamed online. EXECUTION • The campaign began with our cheeky branded content piece that told Blocker’s story. It drove users to a microsite, where they could sign up for a live, personal prediction from the roach. • The microsite was also promoted through Facebook and through tweets the roach made himself. • Each participant was assigned a live time slot on a microsite, where they got to see Blocker the Roach make his prediction for them in his model stadium. • Each prediction was highly personalised, with the user’s name appearing in lights inside the stadium. • After the prediction, each user received a personalised webpage and video to share. • They could also instantly compare Blocker’s pick for them with the real TAB odds and click to place a bet.

With no budget for video seeding, we had to work with our social channels and do some classic grassroots outreach. We launched the video on the TAB Facebook page and it spread from there. We also shared it on the campaign Twitter account, personally tweeting it to sporting influencers, and hand-delivered it in a branded package to 35 journalists and influencers.

We exceeded our goal of filling 75% of live personal prediction slots, filling 100% of them. In just the first week of the campaign, TAB’s Facebook page earned 5,000 new likes. The Blocker campaign represented just 10% of TAB’s total budget around State of Origin, yet drove an increase in bets as well as earned media over the previous year – achieving the client’s business goal. All this with a cost per interaction of under 20 cents and zero paid media placement.