DARRELL LEA PALM OIL FREE

TitleDARRELL LEA PALM OIL FREE
BrandDARRELL LEA
Product / ServiceCONFECTIONARY
CategoryF02. Challenger Brand
EntrantAKKOMPLICE Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation AKKOMPLICE Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
PR BIRDS OF PREY Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Production THE PRODUCERS Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Post Production ALT VFX Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Post Production 2 BANG BANG STUDIOS Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Nathan Herbertson Akkomplice Senior Designer
Kenny Hill Akkomplice Founder & Creative Director
Mitch Kennedy The Producers Director
Sara Oteri Akkomplice Executive Creative Director

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

The commercial opens with the iconic music track “Freedom 90!” by George Michael. The camera tracks along the floor to a drum kit where we see a drummer in action – but this is no ordinary drummer. As the camera pulls back, we discover it’s an orangutan and she’s swept up in the joy of the track, drumming along in the rainforest. We hear George Michael cry out “…because I don’t belong to you and you don’t belong to me” before the song hits a crescendo with the “freedom” chorus, and the orangutan looks directly into the viewer’s eyes as the line appears on screen next to her: THE CHOICES YOU MAKE CAN CHANGE HER WORLD. She continues her joyful drumming as we pull back through the rainforest and see the DARRELL LEA logo appear and the final super: NOW 100% PALM OIL FREE

Please tell us about how the work challenged / was different from the brands competitors

Challenger brand campaigns don’t come much bolder than this. This strategy led Darrell Lea to publicly go up against every palm oil using competitor (and the Palm Oil industry), bringing an invisible ingredient onto every major network with primetime in-depth news coverage to the tune of $1.449M in earned media and a 53% increase in sales. Progressive thinking and an innovative creative strategy were fundamental. Without this, nobody would have paid attention to a palm oil free message, like so many brands before them have found. The use of such subversive creative provoked national conversation and ‘poked the bear’, or in this case gorilla, but in turn won the hearts and mouths of millions of grocery buyers whilst making it better for the planet. Proof that with powerful creative strategy and the balls to challenge the status quo, you can quite literally change the world for the better.