Earlier this month Hard Rated launched its new Orange flavour in a slightly unusual manner.
With a helping hand from Clemenger’s PR and activation teams, the brand locked former AFL star turned media personality Daniel Gorringe in a glass box for 48 hours whilst live streaming it to his 1.03 million followers.
More than 110,000 punters walked past the activation and some 400,000 tuned into the branded live-stream that complimented it. All told, the stunt has become a viral talking point among AFL fans and a masterclass in how brand activations can be done.
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It generated strong results, too, beyond the hundreds of thousands that saw it online or walked past Gorringe’s human zoo.
The launch exceeded expectation, in the opening weekend Hard Rated Orange was the number one-ranked RTD within the ground. The brand pins that on the livestream that drew in 410,000 views, over 70,000 comments and a peak concurrent viewership of over 1,800.
Gorringe also produced 11 videos and constant stories across his Instagram and TikTok accounts, amassing over 16 million organic views and over 1.8 million unique organic engagements. The content doesn’t stop there though as AFL clubs GWS, St Kilda and Gold Coast Suns all created their own content about the activation adding to the reach.
The activation was all made possible by talent first creator marketing, social media and management agency The Gifted Group who not only acted as a creative agency but was deeply involved in the execution. Working closely with the activation and PR teams, the agency curated guests and challenges to make the 48 hours as entertaining as possible. The structure that played host to the stunt was built from four Groblox blocks, including a purpose-built block housing a toilet. All the creative designs and fitouts were handled entirely in-house by Groblox.
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The genesis of the activation was quite unusual, “when we first started talking to Hard Rated about the kind of activation we could do with them, they were great in allowing us to go off and come up with any wild creative ideas that we could. Eddie, my manager (The Gifted Group), and I got together on a work trip over a seafood tower coming up with ideas.
“We sent that list of ideas back to Hard Rated, and from there both teams worked together to add more creative ideas to the concept of being locked in a box for 48 hours. The secret to creative ideas is in the seafood tower,” Gorringe joked.
The zoo-like spectacle took centre stage outside the famous MCG rather over a seafood tower from August 7-8, whilst 110,000 AFL fans walked past to attend two highly anticipated footy fixtures. Hard Rated made sure to make as much noise as possible by placing the box outside the MCG whilst the 26-gamers least favourite team, the Collingwood Magpies, played in front of over 50,000 of its fans—meaning the majority of patrons who rocked up to Thursday nights fixture had a disdained opinion on Gorringe and his antics.
This led to some funny interactions.
However, luckily for Gorringe, the Pies got absolutely demolished and the fans weren’t too keen on sticking around until the final siren. Even Gorringe himself confessed to B&T that the 48 hour stint was made easier due to a famous Magpies defeat. “I think if they had won, the first night would have been harder given how much I would have copped from their fans on the way out,” he said. Displaying his signature, quick-witted humour that has attracted his mass following, Gorringe then joked about how he would have been safe regardless, due to the simple fact he was locked inside a glass box.
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Other than his signature humour and the fact that The Gifted Group couldn’t refuse the pun of Gorringe rhyming with Orange, Hard Rated decided it was essential to expand into social occasions like watching sport. As an official AFL partner, it saw an opportunity to amplify a connection with AFL fans so that whether they’re watching on the couch, at the pub, or live at the MCG, Hard Rated and the AFL are inseparable.
The Carlton and Gold Coast ruckman had previously worked with parent brand Asahi Beverages on a Gatorade project and being a well-known sports media personality with strong resonance among the Zillennial (hybrid between millennials and Gen Z) target market he was the perfect fit for the launch.
Weighing in on having one of his two clubs come and visit him ex-Gold Coast Sun had a dig at the Blues. “It was awesome seeing my ex come to visit me. I saw Damien Hardwick that morning before they rolled down as a team. Carlton doesn’t even know I exist, I just want to be acknowledged by them, is that too much to ask?”
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You would think Carlton not visiting him outside his confined space would be the hardest part of the challenge. However, Gorringe confessed, “the hardest part of the challenge would have been sleeping. My mind just didn’t turn off with trying to keep everyone entertained for 48 hours straight and on top of that sleeping outside the MCG in the open where people are watching made getting any sleep hard.”
This just depicts why Gorringe is one of the leading Australian sports personalities and we can’t wait to see what he has install next.
