Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

As a challenger brand, it is critical that Jimmy Brings marketing activity outperforms its spend, especially in the most cluttered time of year for the drinks category. ‘2020 in a Can’ demonstrates a real understanding of our societal sentiment, audience insight and the role a fun brand like Jimmy Brings can play in their lives. Toasting the end of a terrible year like 2020 with a horrible tasting drink isn’t an obvious idea. But it worked, selling out in 5 days, and reaching 1.7m people on a $65k budget – delivering a $4.4:1 sales ROI.

Background

To continue their mission of owning the on demand drinks segment, Jimmy Brings wanted to ensure they were top of mind at a key time of year with their current customers, and create awareness of their service with new customThe brief was to support their current summer campaign in the market, with a wide reaching activation that cut-through the clutter, on a limited $65k budget. After a challenging year of battling bushfires, Covid19 and murder hornets, we were aware Australians had been bombarded with an overload of negative media and content. We saw there was a longing for some much-needed levity, and a definite desire to let go of the year that was. In addition, our objectives were to achieve brand awareness beyond what a $65k budget could achieve in paid media. Plus, to increase engagement, leading to more app downloads, which would ultimately lead to greater sales.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

Jimmy Brings is a brand that aims to bring fun times, and in December, we launched their summer campaign showing the lighter side of summer. However, the lead up to New Year’s is the most cluttered time of the year, with competitors in the drinks category significantly outspending us and pushing promotions that cause a lot of switching behaviour. So the key challenge for us was to maximise brand engagement and usage of the app during the lead up to New Year’s Eve, in order to deliver sales at this critical time of the year. But to do this, we needed to connect with our fun-loving audience in an authentic and relevant way. And on a tiny budget of $65k.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

We conducted extensive research into sentiment in the market, using a mix of social listening tools and media desk research. The chatter on social channels and in the media about the horrors of 2020 was overwhelming and the insight was clear... ‘People have never before wanted to toast the end of a year as much as this one’. The doom and gloom reflections of 2020 was overwhelming, with our research showing people were getting content fatigue, just wanting to forget 2020. In just 2 weeks from concept to execution, we combined strategic thinking with creative execution in a series of ideation sessions to generate a new perspective to the conversation fitting to our brand's tone of voice . Resulting in the breakthrough question - If we put 2020 in a can what would it taste like? Would people drink something so horrible? Would that be an entertaining way to finish

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

With everyone craving a ceremony to say good riddance to a batshit crazy year, what seemed right, was something so wrong – creating a commemorative drink that tastes like 2020 – like shit. Some unlucky buggers – subjected to experimental batches in market research – uncovered the least liked flavours. And the result, an ungodly mixture of toothpaste, liquorice, salt and coriander. Only 2,020 cans were available on the Jimmy Brings app, which sold out in 5 days. Helping our old acquaintance, 2020, be long ‘forgot’.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

The cans, which were exclusively available on the Jimmy Brings app, sold out in only 5 days. Picking up national coverage with segments on TV, including the Sunrise national morning breakfast show, the Daily Mail newspaper, and countless social influencers. All in all, reaching 1.7M Australians at the most critical time of year for the brand. 2020 in a can increased our Sydney customer base by 27% in 7 days, these new customers represent an annual spend of $285,650 for the business. This resulted in an ROI of $4.40 for every $1 spent – not bad for a $65K budget! It also contributed to elevating the summer campaign in delivering a year-on-year 167% increase in sales, and a 97.87% increase in app downloads.