Why is this work relevant for Media?

The Fake Pirate Film used a completely new, untapped media type - downloadable movie torrents. The underground nature of this, combined with the surprising, tongue in cheek feel of the campaign, makes it highly targeted, yet very attention grabbing. The people who came across our promotion were the exact people we wanted to attract, those with the same adventurous and rebellious attitude as the brand.

Background

Pirate Life has always had, and admired, a rebellious spirit. They're not afraid to do things that bigger, more ‘corporate’, beer brands would never dare to do. When COVID-19 forced the country to remain at home and indoors, with nothing else to do but watch new content, online piracy skyrocketed. So naturally we wanted to do something for our fellow pirates in lockdown. So, we set out to give something special to those pirates who may need a little pick me up, but we also wanted to show them that we are not afraid to do something crazy, to get both their attention and loyalty. By doing this, we hoped to gain awareness of Pirate Life Brewing and attract both a new and loyal customer base with similar values to the brand.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

We found a way to reach people that shared our specific values and attitudes in a totally unique and extremely surprising way. By infiltrating torrent websites and giving online pirates codes to free beer, we were acknowledging their dodgy behaviour and showing that we understood their needs, and wanted to help them through these tough times.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

During the first outbreak of the global pandemic Covid-19 in early 2020, figures on illegal downloads in Australia skyrocketed, with the majority of these files being blockbuster movies or TV shows. The top downloads were movies and shows like Westworld, Bombshell and the new Superman. Statistics taken from the Business Insider revealed 85% of the population have the internet, with a whopping 10,169 per million of the population downloading Torrents daily, that's over 1% of all Aussie internet users downloading illegal torrents. Observing this fresh insight, we drew a clear connection to Pirate Life Brewing and while we admired anyone with our shared rebellious spirit, we wanted to come up with a cracking idea that helped show these dodgy downloaders that there is a better way to live the Pirate Life. (And get free beer).

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We created a faux pirate copy of a film that contained a code for a free pack of Pirate Life Beer. It even had fake production company titles, to lure the viewer in. We then got verified online pirates, to upload our fake film to the biggest illegal movie torrent sites. Our uploaded files were disguised as several of the latest blockbuster movies, to get people to download them. Tempting movie titles, realistically complex filenames, correct file size, even the right length when you opened it up. We used no traditional media channels or any paid media. We simply uploaded the torrents and let the pirates find them. The promotion ran from 12/06/2020 - 29/07/2020. But many of the files are still up and circulating now.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our torrents were downloaded thousands of times. (Due to the unusual and organic nature of this campaign we don’t know exactly how many times - we’re talking about online piracy!) We sent out more than 300 packs of beer to the daring pirates who were brave and trusting enough to give us their address. We received organic PR through posts on Reddit and Facebook, as well as a Daily Mail write up, despite it being left on some of the darkest corners of the web. And we made a deep and lasting connection with fellow Pirates all across Australia, who shared our carefree pirating values.