FARGO WOOLLENS

Short List
TitleFARGO WOOLLENS
BrandSKY TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND
Product / ServiceNEON
CategoryB03. Use of Ambient Media: Small Scale
EntrantDDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Idea Creation DDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
PR MANGO Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Contributing SKY TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND Mount Wellington, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
James Blair DDB Group New Zealand Lead Business Partner
Katya Urlwin DDB Group New Zealand Business Director
Trinity Lawry DDB Group New Zealand Business Manager
Damon Stapleton DDB Group New Zealand Chief Creative Officer
Shane Bradnick DDB Group New Zealand Executive Creative Director
Chris Schofield DDB Group New Zealand Creative Director
Nicole Sykes DDB Group New Zealand Senior Art Director
Rory McKechnie DDB Group New Zealand Senior Copywriter
Hayley Marks DDB Group New Zealand Senior Copywriter
Dean Pomfrett DDB Group New Zealand Senior Digital Designer
Nick White DDB Group New Zealand Senior Designer
Julz Lane DDB Group New Zealand Agency Producer
James Blair DDB Group New Zealand Lead Business Partner
Katya Urlwin DDB Group New Zealand Business Director
Trinity Lawry DDB Group New Zealand Business Manager
Jack Murphy DDB Group New Zealand Planner
Sean Brown Mango Group Account Director
Dean Taylor Mango Head of Digital PR
Sorrel Davies SKY Television New Zealand Marketing Manager
Kate Whittle SKY Television New Zealand Head of Content and Channel Promotions

The Campaign

We created Fargo Woollens. A not-so-cute collection of jumpers, mittens and beanies which were available online in exchange for a NEON subscription. Like the show, the range was delightfully wholesome at first glance, darkly twisted upon closer inspection. To reach this niche local audience we invited the biggest players in New Zealand’s pop culture, fashion and music industries to our fashion launch and live shoot. We then sent them their very own piece of the gruesome knitwear, which they shared with their fan bases. The fans loved it, NEON had record subscriptions and the range sold out.

Creative Execution

We wanted the garments to do justice to the carefully crafted nature of the show itself, so attention to detail was king. We made sure every facet of the garments was designed to reflect Fargo’s twisted themes. Everything from the swing tags, to the washing instructions and even the shovels, ice-picks and guns that made up the knitted patterns. Two leading New Zealand knitwear companies conspired to help us create the Woollens, Remar Knitwear looked after the base garment pattern detail, while The Textile Collective added the gory embellishments. The injuries on the knitwear needed to be “readable” enough to photograph well, which would help them be shared online. The pieces also needed to have enough Fargo-esque embellishments to stand up to closer inspection once our influencers and our fans got the garments in their hands.

Results

As soon as fans got the garments in their hands, they then did exactly what we hoped they’d do. They took to social media with photos of themselves wearing their Fargo Woollens and talking up Fargo, Season 2 and NEON in the same breath. The coveted knits helped NEON generate conversation in the right places, record subscriptions, and a credibility that’s hard to put a price on. Through shared posts from the launch alone, we were able to reach the equivalent of half the adult population of New Zealand. Fargo, Season 2 premièred to NEON’s largest audience to date, NEON subscriptions were up 55% on Fargo, Season 1 and like all good fashion lines... the range sold out.

The brief was to launch the much anticipated second season of Fargo for New Zealand’s leading TV and Movie streaming service NEON. The key objective? To gain free-trials and subscriptions to NEON. So we created Fargo Woollens. A not-so-cute collection of jumpers, mittens and beanies. We used New Zealand’s biggest players in the pop-culture, fashion and music industries to spread the word by sending them their very own piece of the gruesome knitwear which they shared with their fans. The campaign then launched with the items themselves used as direct mail pieces - in exchange for NEON subscriptions.

To grab the attention of such a digitally savvy audience, you need to do something different. Like a low-tech product. And it doesn’t get more low-tech than knitted jumpers. So, to help get the range in front of this audience we invited the biggest players in New Zealand’s pop culture, fashion and music industries to our fashion launch, complete with a live fashion shoot. We held the launch at the HQ of renowned streetwear label, Huffer. And the darkly twisted nature of the range, meant influencers were only too happy to share photos of themselves modelling it. We then sent them their very own piece of the gruesome knitwear line, which they shared in more detail with their fan bases. Once fans heard about Fargo Woollens from sources they admired, and found out a subscription to NEON was the currency…they wanted in.

Links

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