In 2006, Australia’s most popular beer among 18-24 year olds, Tooheys Extra Dry (TED), was under attack from up-market imports and spirit mixers. We couldn’t create a better Toohey’s Extra Dry; that would diminish the standing of the parent brand. Instead, our client Lion Nathan Breweries launched Tooheys Extra Dry Platinum, with a stronger (6.5%) alcohol content. Strategically, we chose to create a dark mystique around the beer, positioning it as Toohey’s Extra Dry’s ‘evil twin’. Our audience was urban cool who would spread the word about TED Platinum and influence their mates.

The creative leap was to launch with the idea that volunteers were required to participate in ‘human testing’ this new beer to ensure that it was fit for consumption. And so the Platinum Testing Facility was born: a scientific organisation whose mission was to study the effects of TED Platinum. The campaign involved 4 phases - calling for volunteers, the testing phase; firstly online psychometric testing, then DNA collection and analysis, and finally the publishing of results. Over 30 different mediums were used, all of which were customised to engage consumers who are spending less time with traditional media.

To date, there’s been 136,000 unique visitors to the website over 395,000 games have been played. We’ve received a disgusting number of DNA sample bags from consumers, literally oozing with samples, ranging from hair to toe nails to bodily fluids. There’s been some 13,500 enquiries for individual DNA results on the website. Most importantly, the campaign has seen TED Platinum grow from nowhere to become Australia’s 7th largest premium beer in just 5 months, which of course our client Lion Nathan Breweries is ecstatic about.