The Brief

Stolen Rum, New Zealand’s newest and fastest growing premium rum brand wanted to expand into Australia. But there was something standing in their way. The Law. Australian law states; “no rum aged for less than 2 years can be imported into Australia”. Making it illegal to ship Sx9, our finest premium over-proof rum, into Australia. This seemingly insurmountable obstacle became our greatest opportunity. It was the catalyst for our marketing campaign and ultimately became a pure expression of the Stolen rum brand positioning of “Premium Lawlessness.” We couldn’t have wished for more.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

As they say, a good problem is hard to find. Ours was the Australian import laws getting in the way of barmen getting their hands on our niche, but extremely potent 130% over-proof Stolen Sx9 rum. But there was a loophole. Anyone over 18 can carry 3 bottles of spirits as their personal allowance. All we needed was a steady stream of people flying from NZ to Aus to carry our precious rum to bars in Melbourne and Sydney. On delivery the bar owners thanked them with a legendary Stolen Nuclear Daiquiri made with the fresh shipment of Stolen Sx9. A small recruitment ad asked frequent international travellers if they would like to become “Mules” and carry packages for us.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

50 bars across Australia are now able to serve the notorious Stolen Nuclear Daiquiri. With no other advertising support, the “Mules” campaign helped see the total sales of Stolen, White, Gold and Dark Rums double in Australia. 200% sales uplift. 1000’s of suspicious looks from customs staff in airports. 0 cavity searches.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The “Mules” wore t-shirts through customs with Mules written on them declaring their allegiance to the cause and shared photos of their daring delivery on facebook and the Stolen website. The word quickly spread making the Australian and New Zealand news and attracting attention from the media. Quietly sales of the mainstream (and strictly above board) Stolen White Rum, Stolen Gold Rum and Stolen Dark Rum began to climb. For the rum-runners it became legendary and for the thousands of followers on facebook it became a perfect expression of the brand that lives by the code of ‘Premium lawlessness’.