Bundaberg Rum launches major new ‘Unmistakably Ours’ campaign via Leo Burnett, Sydney to reinvigorate the Australian Spirit

Diageo Australia has launched a major new brand campaign for Bundaberg Rum, the biggest for a decade with a media value of $20 million over the next 18 months.

The campaign, created and executed in partnership with Leo Burnett Sydney will be activated across multiple channels including TV, out of home, digital and in-store. The campaign launches with a new 90″ television commercial (TVC) which will air tonight to coincide with the launch of the 2017 NRL Season and the brands second year of NRL sponsorship.

VIEW THE SPOT

VIEW THE FROG AD

VIEW THE SPIDER AD

Entitled ‘Unmistakably Ours’, the campaign celebrates everything that makes Australia unique, from our wildlife to our food, our love of sport to our city and beach culture, our diversity to our enduring values. The campaign aims to unite Australians by reinvigorating love and pride for the Australian spirit – both for the iconic Bundaberg Rum but also for the values which make us who we are.

Filmed entirely in Australia, including at the home of Bundy Rum in Queensland, the 90″ TV spot opens with actor Gyton Grantley reminding us about the importance of Australia’s enduring values: always being there for your mates; remaining optimistic in the face of adversity; and having a crack even when the odds are stacked against you.

Supporting Gyton, the commercial features a cameo role from Olympic medalist Anna Meares and surfing hero Julian Wilson who famously paddled towards a shark in an attempt to save his mate (Mick Fanning) from an attack.

The spot also includes a Mardi Gras scene celebrating our enduring optimism and culminates in a celebration with the Bundaberg Rum team outside the Distillery in Queensland.

Says Bundaberg Rum marketing manager, Jodi McLeod: “Since 1888 when the Bundaberg Distillery was born, this brand has played a significant role in Australian culture. As an iconic and enduring Australian brand we have always celebrated the Australian spirit but have never

articulated this purpose as clearly or with as much pride as we are today.

“Recent brand research highlighted that pride in Australia has dropped to its lowest point in 20 years and so, as Australia’s national drink, we wanted to celebrate the spirit that’s unmistakably ours and elevate the role that Bundy plays in bringing Aussies together. The campaign is a rally-cry to unite all Australians around the best of the Aussie spirit and celebrate everything that makes us and our country brilliantly unique.”

“The words ‘Aussie pride’ come with baggage so we set out to create a campaign to remind

Australians of the values that make us truly unique today. Values we should be proud of. All while maintaining the humour that Bundy is famous for,” says Vince Lagana, Joint ECD at Leo Burnett Sydney.

Out of home, TV, in-store and digital activity will use the tagline No-one does rum like us with

multiple executions in market which celebrate all facets of Australian culture.

Building on Bundy’s sponsorship of the NRL, the campaign will also include off and on-premise below-the-line activity to engage fans across the footy season. This instore activation will celebrate the sport and encourage fans to Share the Spirit.

“Combined with our NRL partnership which kicked off in 2016, the launch of Bundaberg Rum Lazy Bear, our most successful RTD launch in over a decade, and now this $20 million campaign, Diageo is really getting behind the Bundaberg Rum brand and reinvigorating the Australian spirit,” says McLeod.

The TVC will premiere tonight (2 March) during the first match of the 2017 NRL season on Channel 9. The brand is a proud sponsor of the NRL with Bundaberg Rum Super Saturdays returning in 2017.

Leo Burnett Sydney

* Kate Holland, account executive

Diageo