The Campaign

We made the Pack That Scares Gulls (PTSG) chip-pack. Working with ornithologists and designers, we created a pack for our new thick-cut chips that provided a seagulll shield for Hungry Jack's customers. Made from a reflective holographic material, the PTSG reflects light to deter seagulls. Although it causes no harm to the pesky birds, its eye-catching design frightens the seagulls and keeps them away from the delicious chips. Distributed to gull-infested areas around Australia, the packs attracted customers while repelling the birds. The idea put the packs directly into the hands of our customers and enticed them to try our new chips whilst putting our packs to the test.

Creative Execution

We printed 10,000 limited edition packs and rolled them out to gull-infested areas around the Australian coastline to help promote our new chips. In total, the packs were available at 8 Hungry Jack’s coastal stores around Australia. NSW: Bondi Beach, Circular Quay, Manly, QLD: Surfers Paradise, SA: Seaford, WA: Falcon, Freemantle, Rockingham We even covered our store at Bondi Beach in the anti-gull repellent material and invited national press and media for our campaign launch and product trial. We also produced a tongue in cheek online film to introduce the campaign and demonstrate how the packs work to protect our new thick-cut chips.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The Pack That Scare Gulls campaign resulted in a 20% sales uplift across participating stores. In just 1 week, we achieved over $10M of PR value across all Australian TV networks and major online sites. The campaign generated 79 independent news stories and reached an audience of over 10 million people - almost half of the Australian population. We were even showcased in a lengthy segment in Australia’s most popular news quiz programs (Have You Been Paying Attention), and received a shout out from as far afield as the North Korea Times. Many online news services (and everyday Australians) also captured and shared content putting the packs to the test at gull-infested beaches.

Being one of Australia's favourite QSR brands, our audience was quite broad. 65% of our customers told us that they preferred our competitor’s fries to ours so we set about improving them. In July 2016, after several rounds of research, we switched from shoe string fries to thick cut chips. In terms of the competitive environment, both McDonalds and KFC outspend Hungry Jack's by millions of dollars each year. To increase awareness and likeability for the Hungry Jack's brand it was essential to use innovative ideas to earn media attention and increase our share of voice. Our strategy to promote the new chips and overcome the competitive hurdles was simple. We designed the gull-resistant packs to generate media interest, and in turn encourage consumers to go in store, purchase our new chips and put the packs to the test for themselves.