VB pledges to Shout the Nation if Aussies win Ashes – another Gold Lion for VB and Droga5?
UPDATED TO INCLUDE OFFICIAL PR RELEASE: Forget Singo’s famous Melbourne Cup shout a few years back. VB is offering Australians the mother of all shouts this summer.
And there is suddenly a lot more pressure on Ricky Ponting’s men to reclaim the Ashes, claims the Herald-Sun in front page and page 2 coverage today. According to the paper, in an unprecedented giveaway, VB has pledged to “Shout the Nation” if the Aussies win the series.
Every adult will be eligible to receive a free 375ml can or stubby with complimentary tokens to be found in the Herald Sun. As a major sponsor of the team, VB is hoping the entire nation will toast victory if Australia wins the series.
The VB Biggest Shout promotion, which also appears in other News Limited newspapers around the nation, is bound to get coverage in England and other cricketing nations, and no doubt – as a bonus – will be a contender for a Gold Promo Lion and/or PR Lion at Cannes next year for agency Droga5 and other communications specialists involved in the campaign.
This year at Cannes, Droga5 won a Gold Lion for VB’s The Regulars, which also won two Yellow Pencils at D&AD.
Further to CB this morning, this is the official release: VB – Australia’s favourite beer – today pledged to ‘Shout the Nation’ if the Australian Cricket Team wins the upcoming Ashes series. The announcement was made by the VB team at the SCG with Ricky Ponting, Doug Bollinger and Simon Katich all on hand to witness the signing of the pledge.
As Ricky Ponting leads the charge to claim back what’s rightfully ours, VB hopes the added incentive of a free ice-cold 375mL can or stubby will give Australian adults another reason to get behind the team this summer. As a major sponsor of the Australian Cricket Team, VB is backing the boys to bring the Ashes home and join the entire nation as they toast the victory.
“This summer’s Vodafone Ashes series is one of the most important for Aussie cricket in decades,” said Craig Maclean, VB senior brand manager. “Australia’s favourite beer is backing Australia’s favourite team to come up trumps this summer. VB is urging all Aussies to get behind the team as they fight to re-claim Aussie pride and what’s rightfully ours – the Ashes. And as icing on the cake, VB is going to ‘Shout the Nation’ to celebrate an Ashes series victory.”
How can Aussies get hold of their free VB? If the Aussies win the Vodafone Ashes, VB will publish a voucher for a complimentary VB in selected News Limited papers on January 8th (January 9th in W.A), which can be redeemed at participating local Liquorland, 1st Choice or Vintage Cellars outlets. The complimentary beer courtesy of the ‘Shout the Nation’ promotion is only available to Australians over the age of 18 years and only one voucher per person is redeemable.
The following News Ltd papers will be participating in the promotion:
• Herald Sun (Victoria) • Daily Telegraph (New South Wales) • Courier Mail (Queensland) • The Advertiser (South Australia) • Sunday Times (Western Australia)
Enjoying a beer and watching cricket will be a simple pleasure enjoyed by many this summer. But as every Australian will hear throughout the coverage, at the ground and through players – by all means enjoy a beer but know your limit and ‘Know When To Declare’. The ‘Know When To Declare’ campaign is the largest sports driven responsible consumption program in this country with partners including Cricket Australia, Carlton & United Breweries, Diageo and Channel 9. In its second year (2010/2011 summer), the program will again include a national TV campaign, at ground activities and an expanded presence at community cricket clubs.
For the full terms and conditions visit www.vb.com.au
39 Comments
Great idea. Like when at an NBA game they give away free burgers to the entire stadium if the team scores 100 points. But bigger. And by Droga 5. So, therefore better.
All snide advertising bitchiness aside, this is brilliant. Not that they’ll have to go through with it as this is the worst Australian team since the 80s.
Let wait until we see how the creative looks, hey Lynchy?
Ricky Ponting, whose career was very nearly derailed because of his problems with alcohol, fronting a “put a beer in every adult aussie’s hand” campaign?
Yeah I know we only care about whether or not this will pick up a promo lion, but does anyone else not see the broader issue this highlights – namely the fact that as a nation we have a major problem with the booze, and things like this hardly help.
Yes, I drink. Yes, I think this is a good advertising idea. But I also think that while stuff like this is encouraged, we’re never going to change our appalling drinking culture.
Well well.
If only our two fave Daves could influence the Australian selectors like they can a Cannes jury. Please design your next campaign around removing Andrew Hilditch from his position of power.
England 3-1 by the way.
bring boony back we’ll win the ashes for sure
just don’t let him near those tokens there’ll be none left for the rest of us
DB did this in NZ a couple of years ago.
Would have been better to shout a pom a beer.
Their economy is tanking.
and theyre about to lose the ashes.
Taco Bell offered everyone in the states a free taco if part of Mir hit a sheet in the South Pacific.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=4152
Or like when Dr. Pepper offered everyone a free Dr. Pepper if Gun’s n’ Roses finally released their album.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2735728520080327
Genius. There’s no way in hell that they’ll ever have to shout the nation.
Agree with 9.26am.
It’s not a bad PR stunt – if you forget that kind of thing has been done before
But maybe you should actually see the work before you start throwing Gold Lions about.
Kind of like when Steve Martin back in the day offered to buy everyone a BigMac. And then took the entire audience to a local McDonald’s?
Well, it’s nice of Droga to basically bet against Australia.
Because at the end of the day, CUB will not want to give away ten+ million cans of beer.
That’s quite an expensive exercise.
One that involves risk calculations.
CUB and Droga have obviously decided that there’s no way Australia will win the series.
Because if there was even a slim chance, they wouldn’t do it.
Sure, giving away free stuff to everyone is amazing PR.
But it’s never happened before.
And it never will.
Because as Taco Bell (the same idea) decided, making the bet unwinnable makes them look patriotic and fantastic – without even a shred of risk.
Good strategy.
Shame it’s sort of un-Australian.
And done better before.
By Americans.
“…complimentary tokens to be found in the Herald Sun…”
Just a question on the mechanic:
Does that mean you’ll have to buy a News Limited paper in order to get the tokens? If so, the real winner here will be Murdoch won’t he? Because everyone will need to buy a paper first?
Only a small minority of people would be desperate (or cheap) enough to redeem a newspaper token for a single stubby of beer. Let’s face it, you’d feel like a right loser doing that.
And even if you did, Fosters are figuring that you’ll probably purchase another half dozen or even a slab while you’re there. I mean, who the hell is going to walk out of a bottle shop with a single can of beer?
So thoughts of this ‘costing’ Fosters 10 million cans are probably way off the mark.
So then 3:34, by that rationale, it’s a shit idea, right?
Not a shit idea at all.
Especially when the entry video proves that millions of Australians queued around the block for hours for their free beer.
Not to mention the white-hot frenzied meltdown the internet went into:
“All over the country, beer enthusiasts joined together to pool their tokens. Facebook groups sprang up in their thousands with names such as “I need 23 more mates for a slab” and “Lets collect one thousand beers”.
Do you reckon they’ve already made the video?
They should have called it ‘The Million Beer Project.’
“Cos that was a fucking success eh?
I doubt it was the best idea they put on the table – but it’s not bad. Yes other’s have done it but with the connection OS makes between Aussies, Cricket & Beer, it should go well in AWARD shows.
Given it’s VB, if I had a competing brand I’d be doing a counter offer quick smart.
“Boags will offer everyone a beer for $1 if Australia wins the ashes to save people from that VB pish”
Stop whingeing, tactical nerds. This is a good – and big – idea.
This IS a tactical idea turkey man. 3.34 bang on the money.
WTF? It’s a newspaper voucher promo. There’s been one of them in a newspaper everyday for the past 100 years. No matter how much spin you put on it, it’s still a voucher promo.
Could this train of comments be a sign that the blinding Droga gloss is starting to fade?
Geez I hope so….
7.29 is spot on – it’s a paper promo….and it cheapens the brand.
And if you own the Cricket Team – why split the benefits with Murdoch?
Watch out for yet another Choice magazine holier than thou crusade to prove its not free because you have to buy the paper.
If this was done by ANYONE but Droga, we’d be ripping it a new one MERCILESSLY.
Just the very fact it’s a COUPON competition and it’s been DONE – TWICE AT LEAST.
If this was Ogilvy, McCanns or Euro we’d be giggling at how completely shit it actually is.
I was wondering why my ‘Get a free Harry Connick Jnr Christmas carol CD with the Herald if it snows’ wasn’t on the blog and trumpeted as a potential Gold winning idea. Let it be know that it rained a little that year and all around the country thousands of nanas and grandpas moved on mass, as one gigantic sea of grey inundating newsagents and cigarette shops desperately trying to get their wrinkly old hands on a shiny piece of the HCJ’s best loved Christmas goodness. If only those stupid old people had bought the app, joined the facebook group and watched the behind the scenes video, I’d be famous.
Well done D5 for pulling the wool over every ones eyes again.
is this a joke? do d5 really think this is a BIG idea? surely not
It’s free beer people, stop your whinging!
hey wait didn’t Krusty the Clown give a free burger for every medal the US won in the 1980 olympics? now that was a big idea…
Dear people in Adland,
How irresponsible is this promotion ! Clearly no one with an atom weight of brain power took into account the social implications of offering free beer.
We should be striving to get people to drink less so that we can reverse the alcohol related crimes and ever increasing road toll that plague our cities and our suburbs.
We want our sports people to be good role models that support good clean healthy living not giving away free beer. Whats next free pack of ciggies ?
I really think that the social implications needs to be taken into account before kicking off these campaigns. Maybe speak to the Police or the Ambo’s about the implications of such a campaign.
Thank you for taking the time to read my comments.
11:54, it’s time to get yourself back to the prayer meeting.
Well, at least it’s an opportunity to run the greatest headline of all time – ‘FREE BEER’ and not contravene the Trade Practices Act.
Your supposed to ‘earn’ a VB in my book.
The idea smacks of marketing todge.
For me it’s a stinker.
CUB will be licking their chops with the amount of PR this has generated.
They don’t give a shit if a) its been done in America before b) used to self promote Droga or c) is considered by the ad industry as a glorified coupon promo
How to fuck a brand by Droga5.
Touting dross like this as a big, new idea is just plain dumb.
Believing it does anything for the brand is short sighted.
We all know what happened in 1984 Krusty Burger giveaway… let’s hope the major opponent doesn’t boycott the event.
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Krusty_Burger#History
At least D5 don’t let pent-up suits who can’t tell their job from their coke habit run the creative department. They also know the difference between a shit idea and a reasonably good one.
I’ve freelanced in a number of places the past year and I can’t think of many agencies who get this right. Maybe it’s the GFC.
Keep hating, but recognise your anger should probably be directed at the sad, shitty state of affairs where you work. Top job boys.
D5’s legal advisor – If you shout the nation but leave out a state, does that contravene the Trade Practices Act?
Ricky won’t even shout his home state. Maybe he’s trying to protect us.
D5’s Legal Advisor – If you shout the nation but leave out a state, does that contravene the Trade Practices Act?
Ricky won’t even shout his home state, maybe he’s trying to protect us.
Thanks for the question, 12:12. Tasmania, being overseas, is technically not a part of Australia. We note that this state of affairs is confirmed by the fact that asylum seekers never embark there in an attempt to migrate to this great land.