Poms Will Whinge

Background

The British Council regularly sponsor budding young Australian creatives to win a placement with a British creative guru. The objective of this campaign was to increase the number of entries by 50% or more from 460 to 690.

Idea

In Australia, the British are stereotyped as a nation of people that complain about everything. In fact, Aussies love nothing better than making fun of ‘Whinging Poms’ and the term has become part of the Australian vernacular. The idea for this campaign was based on this insight, and imagining just how much Poms would whinge when they found out that the British Council was sponsoring young Australians to a dream placement with a British creative guru. To start the campaign M&C Saatchi Sydney launched a website (www.realiseyourdream.org.au) designed like a student’s notebook and containing all the information applicants need on how to enter the competition, view past winners, and see how much their British creative counterparts whinge about the idea of Australians taking their rightful places. Three viral commercials were created to direct potential applicants to the website. The commercials were documentaries of aspiring British creatives complaining that the placements with British gurus offered in the competition should go to more deserving Brits rather than Australians. Hence the campaign thought, ‘Poms will whinge.’

Posters were placed around university campuses, cafés, hairdressers, wherever students hang out, to urge Australian creatives to visit the ‘Realise Your Dream’ website and enter the competition. A reminder direct mail piece was sent to art professors at 15 of Australia’s leading art colleges to encourage them to remind their students to enter the competition. Each piece was individually painted, the letters hand-typed then shipped to the UK so they could be mailed from there for authenticity and impact. The piece took the form of a painting by George Burkett, the British artist featured in the viral element of the campaign, criticising the recipient for encouraging his/her students to enter the competition. M&C Saatchi Sydney ensured that the theme carried through to the invitations to the award evening itself. The official invitation from the British Council and a petition asking recipients to boycott the event were coordinated to arrive in the same mail run. The petition, led by George Burkett, the most whinging of all Poms, while asking for a boycott, also gives all the details of the event, backing up the official invitation.

Results

There was an 85% increase in entries (exceeding expectations by 35%) and the cost per application was reduced from AUS$68 to AUS$40. 19,275 unique visitors went to the website with an average visit of 3.5 minutes (up from 14,712 unique visitors the previous year). The campaign also achieved mass coverage in the media including SMH homepage, interviews with the British Council on Sunrise, campaign write ups in trade press and weekend papers (estimated value AUS$50,000). Anecdotal feedback from the DM was fantastic, with one recipient commenting: ‘At first it scared the shit out of me. Then I realised what it was. Brilliant. A+’ (Vaughn Rees College of Fine Arts UNSW)

Target Audience

Art students and their professors

Our Thoughts

When Dave King, creative director of M&C Saatchi, Sydney, submitted this piece, he added a few apologies in case any of us Brits objected. But we think it’s very funny. The attention to detail has already made this a big winner in several Asia-Pacific awards shows. The petition, for instance. Beautifully written. A whinging Pom writes: ‘What kind of original ideas do you Australians come up with anyway? You’ve copied Marmite, stuck our flag in yours and even think you invented The Ashes.’ This idea for one.