.

As the iconic underdog battler brand on the Australian mobile scene, Virgin Mobile had all the right in the world to leap into social marketing boots and all. Our team at Publicis Digital in Auckland – Andre, me, Jeremy and Rochelle – conceptualised and designed an approach designed to break through the corporate culture and treat Virgin Mobile “members” like, well, rock stars.

Based in a slick, ultra-fluid site built by our team in Australia, and driven via a Twitter feed packed with surprise gigs, topups, freebies, shoutouts and more, the Members’ Lounge leverages Virgin’s unique personality and familiar rock star personality to create what was at the time a completely new style of customer retention community, pushing highly customised content and offers to Virgin Mobile customers – or should we say, members. One of those wonderful projects when strategy, ideation, design, development, the web tools to make it happen and a fully engaged client results in something really cool. Me likey.

A quick-step journey through sites best suited to a life lived to the full

Not your ordinary website or not your ordinary beer: when Steinlager Edge debuted as the mid-strength beer for those living life to the full, we knew we had to pull something out of the bag to not only help explain the product benefit, but to cut through with an idea that actually added value to the web experience, rather than interrupting it.

Visit the site

The result: a seamless, swift, iFrame-based choose-your-own-adventure journey through some of the best local sites – selected purely for those to whom living a full life is not about doing less, but about doing it all.

Your journey begins at one of many clear-cut web ads (with up to three times average click-through) inviting you to decide what’s next. We set up multiple journeys based on themes like Work vs Play, and Home vs Away, and lead you through sites that prove the web is not just for email and news, but inspiration and opportunity. Each site was carefully selected to help provide ideas for getting ahead, getting away, or getting inspired — and each step was also closely tied with an occasion to drink.

Every page featured an iFrame journey selector, acting as a stepping-stone to the next

Using iFrames allowed us to control the journey, while providing full, uninterrupted access to the entire content of each site that agreed to join us in promoting Steinlager Edge – right down to Flash movies running under our overlay (thanks CactusLab!)

In a world dominated by perceptions of carbonated beverages being “fizzy pop for kids”, Schweppes was not being consumed at adult occasions. Something resonant needed to happen to remind the audience of the timeless, adult sophistication of Schweppes. The web was the perfect medium to deliver content unashamedly targeted at adults. The team at Mojo created an online-only Short Film Festival, featuring filmic stories that reflect adult experiences and aspirations, leaving the audience intrigued, invigorated and wanting to know more.

Our team was asked to “invigorate” the relatively static site. Amongst a slew of enhancements, we added an intriguing, sophisticated and entertaining Bar experience… with more than one twist. Visit the site to see what I mean.

With over 1.4 million unique visitors to date, at an average of 7.6 minutes on site, that’s 10 million minutes of brand engagement.

Standing our ground with words writ large

All the ingredients in Steinlager Pure are sourced from the purest place on earth – New Zealand. New Zealand’s anti-nuclear stance is one of the reasons we can make this claim. With the permission of the estate of the late Prime Minister of New Zealand, David Lange, we brought to life the words from the 1985 Oxford Union debate – where David Lange made his case against pro-nuclear forces. At that time he drew a line in the sand that is now seen as one of the defining moments for New Zealand.

As a precursor to the launch of a new campaign for Steinlager Pure, words from that debate were written in the sand on New Zealand’s shore. The link at the conclusion of the film takes the viewer to a preview of the commercial, a fuller version of the debate and further information about Steinlager Pure.

Our man will sort out your shambles of a mate...

Everyone has a mate who is a bit of a shambles in the morning.

We helped give them a bit of a wake up call – in the form of a personalised video from a no-nonsense character, who knows their name, mocks their morning mocha, and gives them a simple solution: wake up and drink Tararua Real Iced Coffee.

Every video was unique – triggered by an email, and seamlessly stitched together on the fly from more than 115 individual clips. During the 33,000 minutes of brand engagement we generated, over 50% of videos previewed were sent to a friend – and nine out of ten of those friends clicked through to be given a wake-up call they won’t forget.

A further innovation came as we looked to convert interest to trial. We made sure each shambles of a mate could book a perfectly timed, pre-personalised wake-up call to their mobile in the morning – complete with a txt coupon for the all new no-nonsense Tararua Real Iced Coffee at the nearest gas station.

The campaign not only gave thousands of kiwi blokes a bit of a wake up call; we proved that people engage with FMCG brands in the digital space – and we helped the product sell well over target: in the first eight weeks it sold twice what the benchmark product sells… in an entire year. And that’s a bit of a wake up call for the entire category.

Where's my CD? It looked secure on the outside...

It might look safe and secure from the outside now, but there’s no reason to believe the hackers haven’t already been and gone…
This “free CD” full of tips and tricks to stop the hackers in their tracks is surely an extremely valuable item – hence the secure packaging. But on opening the case, the network security engineer to whom this was sent discovers the CD has been stolen long before the package was sealed… (Concept only)

What it does
Makes the concept of holistic network security stunningly clear: a firewall is no longer enough to secure an extended network.

Who built it
Concept, design, artwork, copy, photography, and hand modeling all by, er, me.

Winner!
Amongst all the awards, I am still proudest of having this piece chosen by my peers at Wunderman as the best unproduced idea (Cannes 2005). Cheers, you lot.