The Rexona Treadmill of Devotion
Unilever ANZ
Issue 29 | December 2013
Agency
Naked Communications, Sydney
Creative Team
Creative Director Simon Veksner Creative Team Hamish Grieve Adrian McNamara
Production Team
Production Flying Fish Auckland Director Greg Page
Other Credits
Group Account Director Adrian Mottershead Account Director Anna College Marketing Manager Ian Bell Senior Brand Manager Anshika Grover Brand Manager Aymin Diab
Date
March to May 2013
Background
Rexona was into its 4th year as a Tier 2 sponsor of the New Zealand All Blacks but with a much smaller budget than other big players like AIG, Adidas, Ford and Coke.
The brief was to create a promotion that resonated with All Black fans, and stood out amongst other sponsors activity.
Idea
Despite having a population of only 4 million people, the All Blacks were one of the most successful sporting teams in history and Kiwi rugby fans were some of the most passionate supporters in the world.
The idea was to give them a chance to win a corporate box for the All Blacks v France test match at Eden Park, Auckland.
However, they were going to have to pay for it. In sweat.
A standard treadmill was transformed it into the Treadmill of Devotion. It was placed in a box at the stadium. Then it was was hooked up to a giant set of curtains that covered the front of the corporate box. To keep the curtains open, the six winners had to take turns running on the Treadmill of Devotion for the entire match – which lasted for 80 minutes.
Results
Digital Media Impressions 70.5 million (428% higher than forecast).
Facebook traffic 178% higher than forecast.
3.3 million people reached.
Clear sales uplift for duration of the campaign.
Our Thoughts
One of the pleasures of editing Directory is I get to see familiar names popping up in unfamiliar places. Here’s Simon Veksner, who I remember as a bright young creative at O&M London before he went off to BBH where he started writing his blog, Scamp. One of the best about the wacky world of advertising,
I see he has recently started writing it again (scampblog.blogspot.com). Nice to see he hasn’t forgotten how to have ideas that are relevant (spot the connection between Rexona and sweat), funny (the winners’ have to prove their support) and memorable.