AFA Australian Effie Awards 2009

Summary
This article details how Bayer Schering Pharma connected doctors with testosterone deficient patients, educating them about an insidious male condition, which is extremely difficult to detect as its symptoms are wide-ranging and subtle. Over 430,000 Australian men suffer from the condition, but diagnosis rates are as low as 4%, meaning the majority continue to endure the symptoms unaware of the fact. Moreover, testosterone deficient men often don't believe they live up to society's standards, either physically or emotionally, and hide behind veiled displays of masculinity in the hope their frailties aren't exposed. Bayer Schering Pharma's campaign brought to life, via arresting visuals, the liberating benefit TD treatment offers men, restoring their masculinity and allowing them to cast aside such coping strategies. Overall, a spend increase of $247,000 delivered incremental revenue of $1.96 million, $2.2 million projected incremental revenue and $3.05 direct incremental profit for every dollar spent.

Summary
For 50 years, ABC had offered Australian TV consumers commercial-free television, something that many viewers valued highly. In 2008, the network was planning to launch The Gruen Transfer, a series all about advertising, and which had been produced at a high cost. With budget of just A$30,000 and no above the line media budget, the promotional campaign for the show was expected to deliver 900,000 viewers. The creative therefore aimed to provoke conversation and controversy about advertising among ABC's audience. It was based around three fictional spots for products bearing the Gruen name, each of which bore the hallmarks of conventional advertising from their categories. ABC ran these "ads" across its network with no call to action or hint that they were fakes, knowing this would cause widespread uproar. Two further stages gradually revealed the actual reason behind the "ads", ultimately reassuring viewers that they were fakes. The first episode of The Gruen Transfer received an audience of 1.3 million viewers, the most ever for an entertainment debut on the ABC, and it continued to perform strongly, ultimately going on to be awarded a second series.

Summary
Mother, owned by Coca-Cola, is a rare example of a brand that has failed, and then successfully been re-introduced. The 100% natural energy drink was first launched in Australia at the beginning of 2007, but by the end of its first 12 months, the rate of repeat purchase was less than 50%. Moreover, Mother's market share was in decline despite double-digit category growth. At the heart of the problem was the fact that eight out of ten consumers disliked the taste, with many telling their friends exactly how bad they thought it was. It was decided to introduce a reformulated version of the brand, and also to change its positioning. Among the target audience, it was found that humour, "mateship" and "tribal masculinity" were among the core drivers of consumers' lives, and also key to their energy needs. Communications therefore attempted to tap into these themes, with executions running across TV, online and cinema, coupled with targeted sponsorship. After just ten weeks of the campaign, year-end targets were met, requiring sales expectations to be re-forecast. Final year sales were also over five times above the original forecast, and Mother became the number one energy drink in the grocery category.

Summary
The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is the primary promoter of road safety communication in Victoria which decreased road deaths from 330 in 2003 (then, it's lowest ever) to 303 fatalities in 2007. It further sought to improve on its performance through 2008 via a number of highly-targeted campaigns focusing on speeding drivers, motorcyclists, drink drivers, drug drivers and police enforcement. This activity reduced fatalities by another 9% on the 2007 figure. In addition to saved lives, the reduction is estimated to be equaivalent to a cost-saving of more than $45 million to Victoria.

Summary
Young Aussie blokes – particularly P-platers (provisional drivers) – love speeding. They love it to death. Up until 2006 the youth speeding toll was climbing, and the NSW Roads & Traffic Authority’s (RTA) best weapon – graphic car-crash advertising – was unable to stop it. The multimedia ‘Pinkie’ campaign, with its tag line ‘Speeding. No one thinks big of you’ succeeded where previous anti-speeding campaigns had fallen on deaf ears – it elicited a crucial behavioural shift, created a global media storm and empowered the community to render speeding socially unacceptable. Most of all, ‘Pinkie’ helped save lives.

Summary
Kimberly-Clark wanted to increase usage of Viva paper towels, moving the brand beyond being a product simply for mopping up spills, to one that could help with active cleaning. Research revealed it would be difficult to encourage Australian mothers to change their entrenched behavior. Initial communications raised awareness, but failed to induce a change in behaviour. As such, it was decided to change tack, based on the understanding that consumers needed an authentic endorsement from someone "just like them", featured in a "seeing-is-believing" product test. The creative executions were thus based in real homes, with real women encountering real cleaning problems. This activity led to an immediate 15% sales lift, with baseline sales increasing by 29.4% in the first year, and 29.7% in the second year, and total Viva sales rising by 68%. Econometric modelling analysed the impact of this advertising on sales, and showed a $2.12 return for every $1 spent.

Summary
The challenge for Meat & Livestock Australia's "Lamb on Australia Day" was to maintain lamb's position as Australia's national meat, increase consumption in January and integrate a creative idea into point-of-sale to get retail support. The 2007 creative idea centred around the theme of "Votelamb" to coincide with political elections. In 2008, Olympic year, it moved to sport. The campaign generated A$29.3 million incremental revenue and a total return on investment of A$8.04 for every dollar spent.

Summary
This case describes Pfizer's launch of Champix, a new prescription-only smoking cessation treatment that works in a different way to nicotine replacement therapies (NRT). Research showed that few smokers asked doctors for cessation advice, opting to buy non-prescription NRT products from pharmacies. As a result of this - and tight regulation which prevents the advertising of prescription drugs direct to consumers in Australia - a non-branded direct-to-consumer campaign was developed informing people that alternative treatments to NRT were available from doctors, with the objective of sending more quitters into the doctor's surgery for treatment advice. Advertising reversed the traditional "you can do it" messaging by creating a character called The Master', a taunting/mocking voice aimed at piquing the underlying feeling of resentment that smokers have against nicotine addiction. It also invited quitters to visit the "Outsmart cigarettes" website which had 100,000 visitors during the campaign period. The campaign also encouraged 7% of all Australian smokers to attempt to quit Champix; 248,296 prescriptions were issued; and the brand registered $50,936,964 in sales in its our first year on the market.

Summary
Bega has been trading as an Australian brand for over 100 years. In 2005 Bega changed its positioning, lost its point of difference, reason for being and was in the big retailers' 'sights' for delisting. The 'Real Town. Real Cheese' campaign featuring the real rural community of Bega, re-aligned the brand with the "Australian country spirit". This saved the brand from delisting, re-established its brand truth and reconnected emotionally, driving value and volume growth. Bega is now the first cheese brand to crack $200m in sales. Most 'desired' amongst all cheese brands and is sitting at 19.2% Value Growth vs Category Growth of 11.1%.

Summary
Rugby League is one of Australia’s largest and most successful sporting codes. Clubs of the National Rugby League (NRL) depend on fan membership for their ongoing financial stability and ultimately on-field glory. With membership numbers stagnant, the NRL committed $80,000 to help clubs stimulate 20% more members in the 2008 season. By placing fans at the centre of the idea, instead of the usual sports stars, advertising re-ignited fan passion for their club and validated the important role they play in the overall success of their team. The campaign used unique channel planning and unorthodox creative and helped increase memberships by 30% in once season, generating $5 million in incremental revenue for NRL clubs and providing an ROI of $62.50 for every dollar spent.