5SEEDS' DYSTOPIAN LAUNCH

It's no secret most Aussies will do almost anything to wrap their lips around a refreshing alcoholic beverage but Sydney's BMF has taken the Antipodean thirst to a whole new level to promote Tooheys' new 5 Seeds cider.

The campaign is set in a dystopian no man/s land where feral humans are at war with menacing birds who rule overhead and dominate the skyline and the prized food source: the rare and humble apple. The launch spot, Birds versus Humans, sees the un-evolved and degenerate humans forced to scavenge, scrounge and risk annihilation in a bid to secure a grasp on the fruit, until a dominant female breaks away from the pack and risks it all to get her hands on a lone apple.

This revisionist take on the Genesis creation myth follows a similarly unexpected approach to previous campaigns for Tooheys Extra Dry by BMF. The Sydney agency has teamed up with Goodoil Films for this campaign, which not only includes the television advertisement but also boasts an interactive dimension via a dedicated Facebook page. The online element presents visitors with a series of challenges ranging from a reflex-testing point and click game to a guess-the-outcome battle of wits against the demonic birds in a bid to secure the prized fruit.

Director Michael Spiccia from Goodoil Films, says creating an arm of the campaign to hook into social networking forums like Facebook, is part of reaching out to a greater advertising and consumer audience.

"Consumers are spending more and more free time on forums like Facebook these days," muses Spiccia. "Most people are turning or have turned to it as their main source of email. The challenge for us was to conceive something that would integrate seamlessly with the platform in a clever fashion, rather than falling back on an advertising pop-up flashin 'click me and you will win big!'"

For this campaign, he says, it was important to carve out a special online space for the product.
"I thought the way this particular campaign was handled was great as it dedicated the product its own page, much like a fan site. Creating that sort of space means that people can check it out if and when they want to, rather than feeling like they're being force fed."

Venturing into the world of private community spaces is always a gamble, and nowhere is this more clearly the case than Facebook, where connected, web-savvy users are quick to smell a marketing or privacy-infringing rat. The social networking service actually has its own Wikipedia entry dedicated solely to documenting the various criticisms and controversies it's evoked over the years, so entering that area definitely required a clear vision from the outset.

"Of course you need to be aware of the end platforms and their particular nuances so that you can tailor the process to suit," explains Spiccia. "But ultimately no platform or media space will save you from a lack of an idea. Good ideas, well executed will thrive on any platform in my mind."

The television spot featured as a shots.net 118 contender and is supported by print and radio with the digital strategy centered on the Facebook page which has already clocked up more than one hundred 5 Seeds cider fans. Ahead of the TV and web launch Holler Sydney created a real-world apple-hunt, hiding giant apples all over the city to entice consumers into a game of hide and go seek, with successful bounty hunters rewarded with a chance to enter a prize draw. Participants could follow the chase online via the 5Seeds Twitter stream.

On October 30 the next phase of the Facebook campaign will go live as The Orchard, a section of the website currently locked to visitors, will open to reveal a new element for fans to engage with.