The Black Laundry
Lion Breweries
Issue 54 | March 2020
Agency
DDB New Zealand
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer, NZ/AU Damon Stapleton Executive Creative Directors Gary Steele, Shane Bradnick Creative Director Rory McKechnie Art Directors Gareth Rice, Zac Lancaster Copywriters Kiran Strickland, Geordie Wilson
Production Team
Executive Producer Mark Foster, Sam Long Production Company Good Oil Films Director Michelle Savill
Other Credits
Business Partner Jennifer Travers Senior Business Manager Michael Doolan Chief Strategy Officer Rupert Price Executive Planning Director Lucinda Sherborne Business Director George Mackenzie
Date
September 2019
Background
The All Blacks were New Zealand’s national rugby team. Since 1888 the players had worn black jerseys. It had become iconic, a symbol of a little country taking on the world. But as the world has shrunk, so young New Zealanders were as likely to wear an NBA or an English Premier League shirt as their own black jersey.
With the Rugby World Cup approaching, the task was to get Kiwis to come back to their national team.
Idea
To give all Kiwis the opportunity to come back into the fold The Black Laundry was created. Part laundromat, part bar, fans were challenged to reaffirm their All Blacks loyalty by bringing in any other team’s sports jersey and sacrificing it to be dyed all black.
Inside the laundry, were washing machines and industrial dryers as well as a bar where patrons could spend the 45 minutes it took to have their jerseys dyed, dried and embroidered, ready to put back on for the game.
Word of the laundry spread through influencer posts, online and print articles, and even live TV.
TV ads directed traffic to a booking platform online. In addition, radio and social media supported a competition for the best ‘new’ black garment with a winner a day.
Influencers also spread the stories across social media.
Every session at the laundry sold out in minutes, so, like any good laundry, a pick-up service was offered for those who couldn’t make it. With Black Mail, fans could volunteer to send in their clothing, which was given the Black Laundry treatment then sent back in custom front-loading packaging.
By the end of the campaign, an army of fans had been repatriated, who not only wore the team’s colours once more across their chests, but also their logo.
Results
Every session booked out in minutes.
$1million’s worth of PR value.
Four times the entire population of New Zealand reached.
An average of 55 minutes spent in The Black Laundry by visitors.
Our Thoughts
Steinlager has a history of supporting New Zealand rugby. When the British Lions were touring in 2017, they created a campaign in digital OOH (Directory Issue 46) with airport posters that recognised and responded to the colour of shirt the fans were wearing.
If you’re going to have a ‘purpose’, then it might as well be to support your national team in the sport they excel at.
What I love about this idea is how potent it was in social media. Elle Crowhurst dyeing her wedding dress was the story that made headlines, but there were hundreds of others that people shared with each other as and when they betrayed one loyalty for another.