|
Bundy spot pokes fun at Poms
[Mon 07/07/2008 03:44:54]
By Heather Jacobs
If England was Australia, work would be ditched for a surf, every girl would be a sort and men would have their mates around for a Bundy. Such is the premise of the 60-second ‘Pommies’ spot for Bundaberg Rum (‘the greatest rum on earth’), featuring a cross-section of English society from working class to a look-alike Royal Family speculating how different their life would be.
Towards the end of the spot, which broke in September to coincide with the football finals and the Rugby World Cup campaign for the Wallabies (whom Bundaberg sponsors), realisation hits: ‘but England’s not Australia / we don’t have Bundy Rum / so until you send some over here / it’s Australia, here we come,’ sings the cast, as they head to Heathrow. In a final touch of larrikinism, the commercial has the brand’s mascot Bundy Bear appearing in the Sydney control tower, telling the plane it can’t land, before revealing he’s only joking and welcoming them to Australia.
Created by Leo Burnett Sydney, ‘Pommies’ is one of the largest branding campaigns for the dark rum in recent years and launches the brand’s new proposition: ‘Our Rum, since 1888’. The ‘Only in Australia’ positioning came from a conversation with the client which revealed that the brand wasn’t exported – something that enabled Leo Burnett to position Bundy as part of everything uniquely Australian.
‘Naturally, our next idea was to get the whole of England to sing about it,’ says Leo Burnett writer Stephen Coll, who co-created the campaign with creative director Mark Collis.
‘Bundy Bear is central to the ad, with all the action leading up to his appearance. He is the representative of a friendly, welcoming brand, so it makes sense for him to welcome the English to Australia. The ad doesn’t seek to upset anyone, it is simply an observation on how English people find the Australian way of life so inviting – the English are our biggest immigrant group, after all.’
The choice of director was crucial to the success of the ad’s unique humour – it needed someone who could understand the complicated relationship between the Aussies and Poms. Coll says they considered several Australian directors, but it was treatment given by Guy Manwaring from Therapy Films in London that they liked best. It was Manwaring’s idea to use the sacrosanct English hymn I vow to Thee my Country, a favourite at sporting events like Rugby, for the lyrics written by Coll. The recording was done at Finger in London, and the sound at Nylon in Sydney.
Manwaring says he wanted to do the job as soon as he read the script because he found the whole idea ‘really funny’. Rather than being offended by the jokes at England’s expense, he was the one who always wanted to push it further. ‘If anything, it was the client who was afraid of upsetting too many English people. I don’t think too many people get upset by this sort of humour because it’s obviously a joke,’ he says.
The shoot was timed for winter in the UK because they wanted the worst weather possible.
‘Of course, the day before shooting, England had unseasonable sunshine and soaring temperatures, which had everyone fretting. We needn’t have worried. It was snowing by the time we got on set,’ says Coll.
Manwaring set out to find the grimmest locations he could find, settling on Newcastle in the north of England for its industrial landscapes. One of the scenes was set in the same street of the mining town in the feature film Billy Elliot. The recording of the extras for the soundtrack saw 100-odd British people singing about how they wish they were Australian while standing in a car park knee-deep in snow.
As well as generating positive feedback locally, it’s become a favourite of Aussie expats in England based on the YouTube comments, says Coll, who has no idea whether the Royal Family has seen it, but hopes they’d laugh if they did.
‘Most of the British expats living here have said “That’s so true!” There is also an expectation that Aussie humour will be cheeky,’ he says.
Heather Jacobs writes for Campaign Brief, B&T and Hong Kong-based Marketing magazine.
This article appeared in IF #103 October 2007
1,675
|
