Woodstock and Droga5 ANZ team up to celebrate Kiwi bromance in new brand platform

Forget chocolates and flowers. Woodstock reckons the strongest bonds are more bromantic than romantic. And what better way to honour your best bro than with a box of Woodys? That’s the thinking behind Celebrate Your Bromance: a new platform from Woodstock and Droga5 ANZ, part of Accenture Song. A full-throttle salute to Kiwi bromance in all its messy, chaotic, legendary glory.

The campaign started with real Kiwi mates and the years of questionable photos and videos clogging up their camera rolls. Woodstock put those raw, unfiltered moments on blast, reminding the country what bromance actually looks like.

Then, in grand romantic gesture style, Woodstock helped three Kiwi blokes celebrate their own bromances with extravagant public gestures. From a plane banner flying over Auckland, to a tattoo of one mate’s face inked permanently on a leg and a bromantic sax serenade that lasted an entire day, the brand made sure these declarations couldn’t be missed. Popular content creators UceGang also joined in, giving the whole country a chance to share public declarations of bromance plastered on billboards across the country.

All this activity culminated on International Bromance Day (yes, it’s real), where Woodstock took things up a notch with a one-night-only pop-up restaurant, The Bromantic Bistro. The ultimate celebration of bromance — a cross between a fine-dining restaurant and a man cave. A five-course bourbon-inspired menu, every dish paired to a Woody. Candlelight. String quartets. Relentless roasting. A bromantic night to remember.

The bromance didn’t stop there. In-store, Woodstock sold limited-edition six-pack gift boxes that you could buy for your bro, with space on the box for a heartfelt note… or a brutal burn. On TV, Crowd Goes Wild ran a six-week countdown of the world’s greatest sporting bromances, ending with a live cross to the Bistro where they interviewed Kurt Eklund and Naitoa Ah Kuoi about their bromance. And on radio, The Rock’s Morning Rumble got Kiwis to spill their funniest bromance stories, backed by bromantic moments radio ads.

The campaign is airing across online video, out of home, radio and on Woodstock’s social owned channels.

Says Tatyana Dickson, GM Marketing at Asahi Beverages: “Woodstock has always been about over the top friendship and shared moments. With Celebrate Your Bromance, we wanted to reintroduce the brand in a way that’s distinctive, disruptive and true to Kiwi culture – encouraging people to reconnect with their mates and create more legendary stories together.

Adds Damon Stapleton, Chief Creative Officer at Droga5 ANZ: “Romance has Valentine’s Day. We thought it was about time bromance had its own celebration. This platform celebrates that bond in a way only Woodstock could, by turning small moments and big gestures into something unforgettable.”

Client: Asahi Beverages:
GM Marketing (former): Oliver Downs
GM Marketing: Tatyana Dickson
Marketing Manager – Dark RTDs & Spirits: Lizanne Camilleri
Brand Manager: Matt Stretton
Brand Manager: Tommy Murray-Edwards

Creative Agency: Droga5 ANZ, part of Accenture Song
CEO, Droga5 Aotearoa & NZ Lead, Accenture Song: Storm Day
Chief Creative Officer: Damon Stapleton
Executive Creative Directors: Christie Cooper, James Conner
Group Business Director: James Allan
Chief Strategy Officer: Stevie Weber
Strategy Director: Craig McLeod
GM and EP: Rosie Grayson

Production:
Production Company – Film: The Post Office
Production – Activation: The Supreme Group
Audio: Craig Matuschka, Liquid Studios
Composition: Peter van der Fluit
Photographer: Frances Carter, Loupe Agency

Media:
Media Agencies: Spark Foundry, Hearts & Science, OMD, FUSE