Are you still stuck on what a winning entry looks like for the Cairns Crocodiles Awards? Fear not, because we are celebrating campaigns that deliver commercial bite and cultural impact across the region.
This week, we’re sticking to the brief with the highly competitive Outdoor Campaign category, where Selleys and Howatson+Company took home the Gold Crocodile for an activation that put its product strength to the ultimate test.
This article follows Endi Asmira’s CMOs to Watch piece, which explores how he is breathing new life into the 87-year-old brand. And what better way to show this off, than this fun OOH inspired interactive spectacle.
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve sunk our teeth into how Dentsu Japan snapped up the Grand Prix with its fun, mahjong-inspired campaign, how the Japanese agency scored another win in the Radio & Audio Campaign category and the campaign that helped Toyota return to the best selling car in Australia.
Think your work has what it takes? Enter the 2027 Cairns Crocodiles Awards now!
Selleys Liquid Nails is no stranger to a big claim, with its construction adhesive boasting 400kg of holding power. But while the brand was dominating the DIY market, it was losing ground with professional builders, who weren’t convinced the product could handle the tougher jobs.
Research revealed the issue wasn’t that tradies had rejected the Liquid Nails product. They had simply underestimated it.
In a category flooded with strength claims, builders had heard it all before and wanted less talk and more proof.
With this in mind Selleys teamed up Howatson+Company to flip the traditional advertising approach on its head. Rather than telling tradies how strong Liquid Nails was, the campaign challenged them to prove the brand wrong.
Enter the billboard, which doubled as a product demonstration under the tagline ‘If You Can Take It, It’s Yours’.
Installed on a busy Sydney road, the billboard featured a kayak, arcade machine, cricket bat, toolbox and a 2.8-metre marlin, all glued directly to the structure using Liquid Nails. No bolts, no supports and no clever camera tricks.
The public was invited to have a crack at pulling the items free, with every failed attempt providing another demonstration of the adhesive’s strength. Even Australia’s second-strongest man couldn’t budge the items.
The activation turned a traditionally static OOH placement into an interactive spectacle, with attempts to remove the prizes captured on camera and shared across social media. What started as a single billboard soon attracted influencers, national media coverage and millions of video views.
Most importantly, the campaign gave professional builders the tangible proof they were looking for, putting Liquid Nails’ product performance front and centre rather than relying on another set of advertising claims.
As a result brand awareness increased by 12 per cent, while the campaign generated 47 million video views, largely driven by organic sharing. It also helped shift perceptions among professional builders, increasing penetration in the trade market.
Sales rose by five per cent, marking the highest campaign-driven sales lift in Selleys’ history, with growth sustained beyond the activation period.
By making OOH the campaign itself, rather than just another channel in the media plan, Selleys turned a product claim into a public challenge and gave tradies a reason to stop, look and have a go.
