The story of why Australia fell in love with Rhonda and Ketut to be told at Mumbrella360

April 11, 2013 11:05

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.

Early bird tickets – with a discount of $600 – are on sale until the end of the month

Cathie McGinn

topics AAMI, Badjar Ogilvy

Comments: 14 Add Comment

dan 11 Apr 13

Will it also talk about the fact that they were lucky that Rhonda was featured in Howzat, which had well over 2million viewers?

C'mon 11 Apr 13

seriously, the fact that this captured the imagination of the public was pure luck, and only luck. The rainmakers cometh

Benio 11 Apr 13

@Dan… pretty sure she was cast as Rhonda well before Howzat aired

macca 11 Apr 13

I LOVE RHONDA 4 EVER

dan 11 Apr 13

@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.

JG 11 Apr 13

Dan, which country are you in. It can’t be Australia unless you have been under a rock for quite some time.

C'mon 11 Apr 13

Mumbrella – why is my comment still being moderated?

Jack Russell 11 Apr 13

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)

ashley ringrose 11 Apr 13

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”

dan 12 Apr 13

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?

mumbrella 12 Apr 13

Hi Dan

There was the (from memory) 150,000 Facebook fans for The Sexual Tension between Rhonda and Ketut page.

Cheers,

Tim – Mumbrella

dan 12 Apr 13

Thanks Tim.

Groucho 12 Apr 13

@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.

Jeff 16 Apr 13

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.

The story of why Australia fell in love with Rhonda and Ketut to be told at Mumbrella360

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