Tooheys 5 Seeds set to put a twist on cider in new campaign breaking this Sunday via BMF Sydney

January 6 2012, 3:41 pm | BY Lynchy | 73 Comments

Screen shot 2012-01-06 at 3.45.15 PM.jpgThis Sunday (Jan 8) Lion will launch a new campaign for one of the fastest growing brands in its portfolio – Toohey’s 5 Seeds. The campaign, via BMF, has been timed to coincide with the release of a new variant in the range – Cloudy Apple – and will kick start with a TVC that exposes the ‘not so sweet’ side of the Toohey’s 5 Seeds brand. 

VIEW THE SPOT

Lion Brand Director, Jon Bradshaw, said the new campaign was developed to deliver on the original Tooheys 5 Seeds brand promise – to shake up the old fashioned cider market.

 

“Since we launched Toohey’s 5 Seeds in October 2009 the cider category has become highly competitive and has shown particularly strong growth over the past 12 months. This new campaign showcases Toohey’s 5 Seeds position at the forefront of this category by providing a fresh and clever approach that sets it apart from its competitors,” said Bradshaw. 

 

Directed by Ben West of @radical.media, the TVC follows the journey of the Toohey’s 5 Seeds ‘delivery girls’ from the apple orchard to the local pub. Visual effects are used to bring to life the unique appearance of the two central characters who travel through a world that appears wholesome and idyllic but on closer inspection is ‘not as sweet as you think’.

 

Says Shane Bradnick, BMF executive creative director: “5 Seeds is designed for drinkers who are not into the ‘super sweet’ world of cider. Bringing a great brand promise like that to life was a lot of fun. Taking things that are all sweet and light on first inspection, and then giving them a less than sweet twist. And if you look carefully ‘not as sweet as you think’ works on all sorts of levels throughout the ad.”

Adds Bradshaw: “5 Seeds is designed for drinkers who are looking for a cider with a bit of a twist – a sentiment that is very effectively captured in this new campaign.”

 

Shot in regional NSW, the TVC is set against the classic 70’s ‘Pushbike song’ by The Mixtures.

tooheys.jpgSydney music company Smith & Western had an intriguing and unique experience recording the legendary gypsy banjo player, Benny ‘The Giant’ Gogasa from his Romanian hotel via Skype for their re-recording of the Aussie 70’s hit “The Pushbike Song” used in the commercial.

Now in his 70’s, Benny ‘The Giant’ (who is nearly 7ft tall) is well-known throughout Eastern Europe and France, and continues to tour with his band of orphans, misfits and mildly deformed gypsy musicians, The Gypsy Tulip Chorus.

Says Dan Higson, EP at Smith & Western: “We were eager to find someone really special to play banjo on our Tooheys 5 Seeds music track and came across Benny via a contact in Paris. We were told Benny was a large, intimidating figure with a fiery temper at the end of a very short fuse but he accepted our invitation with alacrity so with the help of some very helpful hotel staff where he was staying, we hurriedly linked up with him for a recording via Skype and within a few minutes he had his banjo out and was playing for us.”

Smith & Western CD, Nick West added: “Benny played the banjo part impeccably then out of the blue he offered to sing for us – which wasn’t something we were expecting. He began singing down the line from his hotel room in Bucharest and we were utterly astounded – he sounded like an Eastern European cross between Johnny Cash and the bloke out of the Crash Test Dummies!”

Within an hour, the eccentric Benny The Giant (who reportedly once spent three months trying to teach his dog to read and kept a colony of bees in his sitting room) had recorded all the banjo and vocal parts and the boys at Smith & Western were left with gold.

“Contrary to his somewhat frightening reputation, we found Benny ‘The Giant’ to be a man of vast and exuberant charm. We’re dead keen to work with him again and have already discussed bringing him and The Gypsy Tulip Chorus out to Australia to play live” added Smith & Western engineer Ant Smith.

The TVC will first air on January 8th and will run for six weeks. It will be supported by an outdoor, print and digital campaign, as well as a point of sale presence nationally.

 

Creative – BMF

·         Shane Bradnick – Executive Creative Director

·         Alex Booker – Art Director

·         Daniel O’Bey – Copywriter

·         Nigel Clarke – Copywriter

·         Jenny Lee-Archer – Senior TV Producer

·         David Hartmann – Planner

·         Tony Dunseath – Account Director

·         Renee Kastanias – Account Manager

·         Simon Starr- Account Executive

·         Sarah Thompson – Art Buyer

·         Libby Hams – Print Producer

 

Production and Post Production

·         Director: Ben West @Radical.media

·         Executive Producer: Ian Fowler

·         Producers: Holly Alexander & Ian Iveson

·         DOP: Callan Green

·         Production Designer: Alex Holmes

·         Editor: Drew Thompson @ Method

·         VFX: Robot

·         Post Production: Method

·         Music Licensing: The Pushbike Song through Level Two Music

·         Music Composition & Sound Design: ,Smith & Western

          Nick West, Ant Smith, Dan Higson

 

Client – Lion

·         Jon Bradshaw – Brands Director

·         Andy Disley – Marketing Manager

·         Naomi Gavan – Assistant Brand Manager