Nando's aimed to 'break the mould' with Mango Heist

The mystery of the ‘stolen’ giant mango from the Queensland town of Bowen concluded this morning when a replica mango popped up in Melbourne’s Federation Square.

The stunt was a marketing push by Banjo Advertising to launch chicken restaurant Nando’s new sauce flavour mango and lime.

Dubbed #mangogate on social sites, news of Bowen’s missing mango quickly spread around the world with coverage in the UK, Belgium and France.

Peta Morton, senior planner on the Nando’s account for Banjo, told B&T the idea for mango heist was simple: “We were launching a big new flavour. And a big new flavour needed a big newsworthy stunt”.

“Because Nando’s is not like any other brand. When it has something to say, it does it in a way that breaks the mould,”Morton said.

“So when it came to launching the new Mango & Lime flavour we believed Nando’s needed to create a program that engaged, drove intrigue and builded momentum.

“A program that would get people talking and reward them for their involvement. A program that would culminate in a ‘reveal’ that is the product launch.”

The project brought together the brand and Tourism Bowen to pull of the heist which ended this morning with a replica of Bowen’s mango and a giant lime set up in Melbourne’s Fed Square with product sampling.

Peta said the Banjo team and Nando’s marketing were excited to see how much engagement the stunt created: “The news spread so quickly across Australia and the world with some amazing memes beings uploaded by people to the Bowen’s Big Mango Facebook page created for the stunt.”

“In a time when we can take things too seriously, it’s nice to see Aussies still love a little larrikinism, and have a unique fondness for all the ‘Big things’ on this great continent.”

A song (see video below) was created by one member of the public about the missing mango and someone else even put the ‘stolen’ mango up for sale on Gumtree.

CREDITS: Client: Nando’s Marketing Manager Nando’s Australia: Nicole West CEO: Craig Mason PR Manager: Jude Leon Marketing Manager: Barbara Karametos Marketing Executive: Daniel Glover Marketing Executive: Tamika Nelsen Creative: Banjo Advertising Copy Writer: Laurence Cronin Art Director: Scott Hopkin Senior Planner: Peta Morton Creative Partner: Georgia Arnott Senior Copywriter: Laurie Cronin Senior Account Director: Richard Frost Account Manager Tom Mort Syndicate Films Director: Matt Weston DOP: Rodrigo Vidal Dawson

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