Background

Steinlager is New Zealand's national beer. But they were seeing a worrying trend emerge as Kiwis in their 20s moved away from traditional NZ brands. For these young Kiwis, the classic, iconic Steinlager was a little bit old fashioned and uncool. With a quarter of the population living overseas and immigrants now making up another quarter of our demographic, NZ culture has changed. More and more, young Kiwis were looking overseas for inspiration and rejecting anything that represents 'old New Zealand' as they strive to appear more worldly. It was from this insight that Steinlager Tokyo Dry was born. A beer made from NZ ingredients and Japanese brewing mastery. Steinlager wanted to advertise this Japanese inspired beer without losing their NZ heritage, So we followed the format of Tokyo Dry by taking another iconic New Zealand classic and remaking it with Japanese masters of a different kind.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Steinlager wanted to appeal to 18- 35-year-old New Zealanders. Savvy, young people who rejected anything that looked like traditional advertising. So instead of making an ad, we made a music video. Music is intrinsically linked to a country's national identity and nothing goes with beer more than a great song. So, what could be a better way to advertise a beer that combines two different cultures, than with music that does the same? So, to follow the ethos of the beer, we took an iconic New Zealand song, 'Slice of Heaven' by Dave Dobbyn and Herbs, and remade it in Japan. The result was a song and music video featuring a whole range of Japanese musicians from J-pop singers to Shamisen players, each of whom put their own spin on the song. Several of the musicians also featured in these posters which were made to accompany the film.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Our street posters were used to release the song to New Zealand. Instead of creating one street poster and duplicating it, we treated the blocks of street posters as one by running a series of different street posters alongside each other that worked together. The posters celebrated the main musicians from the TVC and incorporated Shazam so kiwis could also hold their phones up to the poster and listen to the song right there on the street.

List the results (20% of vote)

Business Results Sales went up 44% in volume and 28% in value. Not only is the brand increasing penetration, it continues to bring new drinkers into the category. Communications Results Our version of ‘slice of heaven’ has earnt its own place in New Zealand culture with a reach of 4,915,813 (and New Zealand has a population of only 4.8 million).