
Tough Tap
Carlton & United Breweries
Issue 43 | June 2017
Agency
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Creative Team
Creative Chairman: James McGrath Chief Creative Officer: Ant Keogh Creative Directors: Evan Roberts Creatives: Giles Watson, Joe Sibley, Jackson Harper, Lee Sunter
Production Team
Executive Producer: Sonia von Bibra Digital Senior Designer: Adam Hengstlberger Digital Designer: Priya Stewart Director: Tony Rogers Photographer: Joe Sibley, Giles Watson Production Companies: Guilty Flare Productions Risk Sound District
Other Credits
Brand Manager: Laura King Planning Director: Michael Derepas Senior Planner: Matt Pearce Group Business Director: Adam Kennedy Project Manager: Alex Blakemore Account Service: Angus Pearce, Drew Reid
Date
December 2016 – March 2017
Background
Mercury Cider was first brewed in Tasmania, 1911. Times were harder back then, which is why it has a higher alcohol content than other ciders. The problem is, the Australian market is saturated with ciders that are targeted towards a more feminine demographic. As a result, Australian men had stopped drinking cider, opting to stick to beer.
The task was to change the perception of cider in Australia, and relaunch the Mercury Cider brand over 100 years after it was first brewed. The challenge was to do something that separated Mercury Cider from its competition and talked directly to men.
Idea
The Mercury Cider Tough Tap—if you’re tough enough to pour it, you’re tough enough to drink it. The hard-to-pour cider tap was installed in the toughest pubs, bars and events across Australia in the ultimate challenge of toughness.
The campaign was launched with online films that challenged men on their masculinity, inviting them to see if they had what it takes to drink Mercury. Some of Australia’s toughest were invited to put themselves to the test using the Tough Tap, including the world’s greatest ever athlete—21x world woodchopping champion, David Foster.
As patrons attempted to pour themselves a free cider, an animated GIF was automatically created and shared on social media, and their results were added to a national leaderboard—in search for Australia’s toughest person, state, pub and football team.
Results
The Mercury Cider Tough Tap campaign changed the perception of how men see alcoholic cider in Australia, with Mercury Hard Cider sales increasing by over 60%. The campaign had 26 million impressions—reaching over 16 million Australians, and the online films were viewed to completion over 4 million times across Facebook, Snapchat and Youtube.
The campaign was so successful that the online films were adapted for placement above-the-line on commercial television, and the Mercury Cider Tough Tap is becoming a permanent installation at Australia’s most prestigious and tough sports stadium, the MCG.