Branded entertainment in Australia is in its immaturity - very few brands do it well. Most brands are still very focused on putting themselves or their products first; whereas we have focused on putting our audience first. Marrying the brand insight, with social intelligence to create compelling work that captured the attention and imagination of our audience.

The Australian communications market is one of the most heavily (self) regulated countries in the world. This makes it challenging to create new, different and exciting work. It’s also one of the most expensive, in terms of ATL communications. Modern advertising requires storytelling to capture people’s imaginations and generate relatablity and empathy with a brand. Simply put, a 30 second spot isn’t able to suffice. But, whilst branded entertainment is immature, smart phone penetration is one of the highest in the world and dual screening is a common occurrence. We wanted to tap into this, and ‘fish where the fish are’ by creating branded entertainment that is much more powerful than TV alone.

Step one: Consider those most in need of reconnection. The small town of outback Winton was identified.

Step two: Meet the locals. Hear their stories. The town had a plethora of people who were isolated, by distance, from their loved ones.

Step three: Track down their loved ones from all over Australia and the world.

Step four: Announce Tim Tam’s ‘coming of age’ on the morning of its birthday to the media. This would set the scene for the Winton celebrations.

Step five: Make a special delivery of loved ones into the arms of the Wintonians. Host Tim Tam’s 50th birthday party on the main street of Winton and invite the town (and media) to come.

Step six: Capture all the love, laughter & tears as people are reunited. Share the content with media and consumers across Australia.

500 locals attended our party (of a population of 965).

PR coverage reached 62 million eyeballs, with an equivalent value of $1m.

Organically hit the front page of ‘Most Shared’ on YouTube with our bulls-eye demographic, women 35-45 in Australia.

The videos' average view duration was 85%; 70% increase on the industry standard.

Organic and viral reach doubling over campaign period, which led to our trending on Facebook.

Over 1,000 pieces of unique Facebook content created by fans telling their reconnection stories.

On-pack promotion generated 22,000 entries- each telling a further reunion story.

Maintain sales YoY, despite 25% price increase.