Koala disrupts the mattress industry by calling a bed a bed in latest campaign via The Royals
The mattress industry has purposely made things far too confusing for far too long – with made-up jargon, hundreds of different models and bamboozling technological terms aimed at making things difficult. Koala on the other hand always has and always will be about keeping things simple and telling it how it is.
The campaign – ‘Sleep it simple’ – includes TV, radio, out-of-home, digital, social and ambient, and is the brand’s first campaign from independent creative company The Royals, which won the project three months ago.
In keeping with the brand’s easygoing attitude, Koala forgoes industry jargon and keeps things simple – protecting Australians from having to think too long and hard about buying a mattress.
Says Nick Cole and Pat Allenby, creatives on the campaign: “The mattress industry has messed with people’s heads. Now you need to be a mattress expert just to buy one. With this campaign, we wanted to show people that with Koala’s new mattress range all people need to care about is getting a better sleep.”
Says Bradley Firth, global brand strategy and creative VP, Koala: “The Royals were the perfect partner in creating a campaign that keeps things simple and captures Koala’s down-to-earth personality and cheeky Aussie humour. Combined with our new brand identity and revamped website, the Koala brand is primed for its next phase of growth.”
Says Sebastian Vizor, executive creative director, The Royals: “It was a joy creating this campaign with Koala. They strongly believe that buying a mattress shouldn’t be as complicated as it’s become, and we agree. So we stripped everything back to its core and just told people what they actually needed to know.”
LISTEN TO THE FIRST SPOT
LISTEN TO THE SECOND SPOT
Client: Koala Furniture
Creative Company: The Royals
Agency Producer: Christina Wilmot
Production Company: Airbag
Director: Ariel Martin
Executive Producer: Alex Tizzard
DOP: Aaron McLisky
Editor: Mark Bennett
CGI: Airbag
Post Production: White Chocolate
Grade: Ben Eagleton
Sound design: Rumble – Cam Milne
Casting: McGregor Casting
34 Comments
is bland really disruptive? bland work again.
I saw this on the weekend whilst relaxing at Kirribilli House and I lolled. Nice work Royals. Catch you at my next bbq.
Good one.
Nicely put together.
This campaign is rock bottom. There reason for buying this thing is literally a koala in a tree tells you to forget thinking. Convinced me. May as well switch off my brain. Great way to work out what to buy. If this works, I literally have to quit marketing as a job.
Advertising’s job is not to help consumers think more about their purchases, but make sure they think less.
I’m not sure I love the ad…
But there’s a tip so you can better understand your ‘marketing as a job’.
Sheeesh, check out these Debbie Downers^^^.
Funny ad, made me laugh, makes me like the brand more.
@Charles L, Please do, literally.
Was that meant to be funny?
OMG that’s hilarious!
I can’t dislike this because I’d be siding with a halfwit like @Charles L
This is like a bad pastiche of every barely passable comedy spot from the last few years with all the humour removed.
Also what the heck is going on with Koala? Remember that super woke spot of the woman walking through Australia’s most comically diverse share house? How did they end up here less than a year later?
Great performances. Well shot. Big fan of this Ariel Martin fella
Fair call I reckon, and nicely done. Wish I had a bed in Nielson Park!
This is pretty good for Koala’s standards. The spot was going well until the Koala gag
^^^ is lockdown getting to you, kids?
It’s a massive departure from what’s previously made headlines for the brand. Totally missing the cheeky, challenger brand irreverence that served them so well. Despite looking ok, this is instantly forgettable.
The man being scared of a talking Koala makes me lol every time – great stuff Nick & Pat!
How many times has this strategy been done across multiple categories? Geez. Give me, ‘ milk that tastes like milk’, so I can piss it into my ‘mattress that acts like a mattress’.
Why does the Koala have a New Zealand accent? Is there some twist my feeble, lockdown brain in missing?
You really do sound like a bed wetter.
“Advertising’s job is not to help consumers think more about their purchases, but make sure they think less.”
That’s absolute nonsense. Ever heard of ‘behavioural change’ campaigns? What the hell have Animals Australia been doing for the past 10 years if not asking consumers to think more about the factory farmed meat they buy and consider alternatives? Or anti-smoking campaigns? How about campaigns urging consumers to buy cars with better ANCAP ratings? There’s plenty of advertising that is created to make you think more.
Is not
Koala disrupts mattress industry by sleeping in a tree.
Advertising’s job is to try and get consumers to think a certain way. The only feasible reason to want them to think less about the product is if it’s a bit s**t or you’ve got something to hide….. Koala?
“or you’ve got something to hide….. Koala?”
You mean like the fact that despite trying to appear super Aussie in their comms their mattresses are actually made in China?
It was fun and entertaining and had me paying attention…. until the drop bear spoke.
The last 4 seconds of crap undid all the good work of the first 26 seconds.
“There are so many better option on the market than our basic mattresses. We’ve literally nothing to say that makes us better than anyone else. Not even our customer service.
So please make an ad that slags off our superior competitors for telling people why their products are better…”
Here’s a tip. Be careful what you wish for. This is a great ad for your competition.
Royals, you should know better. But hey, so long as you got paid, right?
@koala client brief ok
Made me laugh.
Nicely directed but the director didn’t have a good enough punchline to work with.
It was funny. nice work.
Gosh we set the bar so low for ‘funny’ don’t we?
Challenger brand challenging competitors.
Isn’t that the job of the director to manage that?