| Title | BLOCKER THE PSYCHIC ROACH |
| Brand | TAB |
| Product / Service | TAB |
| Category | C01. Integrated Media Campaign |
| Entrant | ANALOGFOLK Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
| Entrant Company | ANALOGFOLK Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
| Advertising Agency | ANALOGFOLK Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Gabor Zins | Analogfolk | Creative Technologist |
| Jack Brown | 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 Producer |
| Matt Robinson | Analogfolk | Managing Director |
First try scorer bets during the State of Origin series rose from the previous year, meeting TAB’s business goal. The PR/earned media goals were also met, with Blocker earning appearances on Fox Sports News and in News Limited Corp. national publications such as The Daily Telegraph. The campaign’s digital goals of driving engagement and site traffic were also achieved. In just the first week of the campaign, Blocker helped TAB gain 5,000 new Facebook likes and reach 435,358 unique people. The campaign content we shared on behalf of TAB outperformed, on average, TAB’s regular Facebook content.
Idea: The creative idea was the creation of a ‘psychic’ cockroach that seemed to foretell that the Blues might win this year. The roach would offer personal predictions for fans to help them choose the right Blues player to pick as first try scorer. Media: Blocker the Psychic Roach was seeded with the public through a branded content piece. The piece drove users to a microsite, where they could sign up for a live, personal prediction from Blocker. The microsite was also promoted through Facebook and through tweets the roach made himself. Those lucky enough to get a personal prediction from Blocker received a personalised webpage and video to share.
New South Wales betting agency TAB needed a way to increase bets on first try scorers during Australia’s 2013 State of Origin rugby league series, a fierce 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. Our audience was 18-40 year-old males who love rugby but don’t bet on games. They were familiar with TAB, but would need some kind of external motivation to put any money down. Disillusioned by 7 consecutive losses, Blues fans needed someone, or something, to rally around. Simply offering a retail bonus on winning bets wasn’t going to be enough. We needed to create an experience to draw fans in and get them something to cheer about; to recreate the excitement of past State of Origin matches.