No Bollocks 2013
Newcastle Brown Ale
Issue 27 | June 2013
Agency
Droga5
Creative Team
Creative Chairman David Droga Executive Creative Directors Ted Royer/Nik Studzinski Copywriter Ant White Art Director Karen Land Photographer Paul McGeiver
Production Team
Head of Integrated Production Sally-Ann Dale Producer Sarah Frances Hartley Art Producer Maggy Lynch-Hartley
Other Credits
Chief Strategy Officer Jonny Bauer Group Strategy Director Tom Naughton Strategist Matthew Gardner Group Account Director Nick Phelps Account Director Lauren Solomon Production Company Webber Represents Editorial Cut & Run Post-Production The Mill Sound Sonic Union
Date
March, 2013
Background
The original No Bollocks campaign for Newcastle Brown Ale unveiled a category defying brand promise: beer without the bollocks of traditional beer advertising.
Idea
To show people what No Bollocks truly meant, the brand had to be able to debunk itself.
Newcastle Brown Ale delivered nine ruthlessly honest TV commercials that took an ironic look at the lies and overpromises that typically define beer marketing.
The creation of “The Subtexter” app allowed people to call bollocks on themselves in social media by adding blatant humble-brag text to their Facebook photos.
What are you really saying about yourself when you post that pic of a sunset? If you suspect it’s something cliche and lame and you don’t mind exposing that motivation to the world the #NoBollocks subtexter gave you a way to add memestyle honest taglines to the photo.
Radio spots, outdoor ads, coasters, posters and even tap handles and neon signs helped drive the No Bollocks ethos. Through its integrated approach, Newcastle started a conversation with beer drinkers in their homes, on their walk to work and where it counts most: in bars.
Results
In only six months, Newcastle Brown Ale saw a 5.3% increase in sales, reversing a sales decline. In October 2012, the campaign received a Jay Chiat Award for effectiveness. What’s more, social media engagement levels have outperformed the norm by a factor of five, and the brand’s total Facebook fan base has increased by 1114%. Oh, and now people know a new word: Bollocks.
Our Thoughts
On the face of it, this might look like a traditional beer campaign. Lots of TV around a single laddish thought. But Droga5 are masters of social media and it is the Subtexter app which really gives this idea its extra ‘wellie’, to use a no-bollocks word.
When you sit down to brief or create a campaign today, the key question to ask is: How are our friends, fans, followers going to be included in this idea?
So, lesson number one from this cracking campaign: Inclusivity is everything. Anything else is, well, bollocks.
That said, if I may quote one blogger, who wrote about the app: “When one calls out one’s own insincerity in this manner, you have to assume there’s some irony and perhaps some bollocks involved.”
Lesson number two: Never underestimate how smart your consumers are.