42Below asked us to implement a fun, quirky campaign to get the cool kids talking about and drinking 42Below in Sydney. The only mandatory was to stay true to the brand’s humorous and ironic personality.We needed to engage digital natives with an insatiable appetite for consuming and sharing content and a love of pop culture. We knew that if we created an initiative with a high level of social currency, the audience would not only engage with it, but feel compelled to motivate others to do so too.So we decided to bring Shaggy to Australia to celebrate his 42nd birthday by throwing him a party at the hippest joint in town.

The catch? Consumers could only get their hands on tickets if they tracked him down via a social treasure hunt. Why? Because we knew this approach would make getting a pair of tickets to the party the talk of the town. And we were right.The two-week campaign reached over 13.1 million people across traditional and social media channels. Brand health insights revealed the campaign halted the decline in brand awareness and the initiative delivered the highest ever brand conversion to trial in Sydney.

Activity was split into two phases:1. Shaggy pre-buzzA week before his arrival a teaser video announcing Shaggy’s visit and detailing the mechanics of the campaign was seeded to media and bloggers. News of his visit was also leaked to targeted youth culture media outlets followed by mass media. Consumers were encouraged to friend 42Below on Facebook, follow Shaggy on Twitter or friend him on Foursquare.2. Shaggy in marketA press conference with Shaggy launched the initiative, following which Shaggy undertook an intensive interview schedule to promote the ticket treasure hunt. Over 4 days Shaggy visited five bars and the first 15 consumers to find him via clues dropped via social media channels scored tickets. The week culminated in Shaggy’s birthday bash at GOODGOD Small Club, Sydney’s hippest underground club, where he performed and partied with a select crowd of media, ticket winners and youth skewed opinion formers.

The two-week campaign achieved a reach in excess of 13.1 million. 100% of coverage referenced 42Below and 95% of coverage delivered the call to action to consumers explaining the treasure hunt mechanic. Over 10,000 people viewed the teaser video seeded with niche popular culture bloggers and media outlets.The initiative was used to launch 42Below’s Australian Facebook page and with no media support, recruited over 1000 fans and over 5,000 unique visitors to the page.Following the activation, brand health insights revealed the campaign halted the decline in brand awareness, achieving 38% in the month of activation, up from 26%. Overall, the initiative delivered the highest ever brand conversion to trial at 21% in Sydney. With this initiative the only activity in market, this campaign is wholly responsible for the improved commercial position and shift in consumer attitudes.