The story of why Australia fell in love with Rhonda and Ketut to be told at Mumbrella360
The planning and creative process leading to the continuing adventures of the characters Rhonda and Ketut for insurance company AAMI will be revealed at Mumbrella360 in June.
The ad campaign, featuring an Australian woman holidaying in Bali on the savings made from being a safe driver who developed a flirtation with local waiter Ketut, became a cult favourite, with a huge audience on social media including fan-created Facebook pages and spin-off T-shirts being sold in Bali.
The session will reveal the story behind how the work was developed, getting the idea across the line, the decision to cast Mandy McElhinney as Rhonda and Kadek Mahardika as Ketut, the campaign roll-out, and what comes next -with a focus on the results the fictional couple’s love story have delivered for the brand so far.
The session will be presented by Richard Riboni, executive marketing manager of AAMI and Bingle, Michael McEwan, GM of Badjar Ogilvy and Lenna Boland, copywriter at Badjar Ogilvy.
AAMI was named Mumbrella and Encore Advertiser of the Year for 2012.
Case studies of successful marketing initiatives – jointly presented by the marketers and their agency partners – are to be a key feature of this year’s Mumbrella360. Yesterday Mumbrella announced that Virgin Australia would be sharing the story of its rebrand.
Will it also talk about the fact that they were lucky that Rhonda was featured in Howzat, which had well over 2million viewers?
User ID not verified.
seriously, the fact that this captured the imagination of the public was pure luck, and only luck. The rainmakers cometh
User ID not verified.
@Dan… pretty sure she was cast as Rhonda well before Howzat aired
User ID not verified.
I LOVE RHONDA 4 EVER
User ID not verified.
@benio But the campaign wasn’t considered a hit until Howzat aired. The “huge audience” on social media was because of the two combining. If the agency doesn’t own up to this event then they are trying to rewrite the reason.
User ID not verified.
Dan, which country are you in. It can’t be Australia unless you have been under a rock for quite some time.
User ID not verified.
Mumbrella – why is my comment still being moderated?
User ID not verified.
Yes, the massive back-fill would fill a crater on the moon.
It’s ordinary advertising that has struck an unexpected chord.
Step forward Mr Bullock (edited by Mumbrella)
User ID not verified.
If you go to Bali there are Rhonda shirts everywhere. It’s amazing
When asked “who is Rhonda?” the shop keepers dont know but they explained “she must be some beautiful lady”
User ID not verified.
So can someone point to proof that it was huge on social media before Howzat? Or are you denying that it played a huge factor in the success it found on social media?
User ID not verified.
Hi Dan
There was the (from memory) 150,000 Facebook fans for The Sexual Tension between Rhonda and Ketut page.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Thanks Tim.
User ID not verified.
@jack Russell “it’s ordinary advertising that has struck an unexpected cord” Even my cat can see the flaw in that dog of an opinion.
User ID not verified.
What a load of nonsense- linking it to Howzat. Everyone knows dozens of people who quote these ads, have seen the mashup video, even dressed as the characters for costume parties. How many of these people have seen that show? Not many.
I never even made the connection.
People like it because it’s funny. End of.
User ID not verified.