Wavemaker wins Boomtown’s $1m challenge
Wavemaker Adelaide has taken the prize in the Boomtown $1m challenge for its San Remo campaign Make Friday Night Pasta Night.
The award gives the winner $1m in regional advertising to reach the 8.8m regional Australians living in ‘Boomtown’ across Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), Prime Media Group, WIN Network, Australian Community Media, Imparja, Grant Broadcasters and News Corp Australia.
Wavemaker Adelaide took out the $1m prize for Boomtown
Wavemaker client director Kirby McDonald praised the Wavemaker Adelaide team who worked on the campaign – Hayley Burns, Rebecca Drummond, Ben Doecke and Michael McCarthy – and said the work had just begun in reaching regional Australians.
“The winning campaign leverages an existing strategy for San Remo and is centred on the idea that regional kids need energy to fuel their sport-filled weekends, and San Remo Pasta is the perfect solution on a Friday night,” said McDonald.
“It was great to have the support from a 100% family-owned Australian business in San Remo. And the Wavemaker team are excited to see this campaign come to life with regional communities at the heart of our campaign.”
The prize was judged by Mark Ritson, Nigel Marsh, and Nikki Clarkson and the panel said the strong response to the Boomtown initiative was overwhelming, and spanned across well-established brands and emerging challengers.
Kirby McDonald and Rebecca Drummond of Wavemaker Adelaide
The finalists came down to San Remo by Wavemaker Adelaide, SKYN by Cummins & Partners Melbourne, IAG/NRMA by CHE Proximity in conjunction with Mindshare Sydney, Pilot, the A2 Milk Company by Wavemaker Melbourne and PepsiCo by PHD Sydney.
The judging panel said the entrants and their campaigns displayed a strong competitive streak but that Wavemaker was the standout.
“The winning team demonstrated an impressive and thorough understanding of the regional consumer, media landscape and business opportunity. And pulled it all together with a well-thought-through idea specifically created for the regional context. We’re confident the results will provide an unarguable case for the power of regional media. Friday nights will never be the same again,” said the judges.
Prime Media Group general manager sales and marketing, Dave Walker, said the competitive strength on display showed the need for advertisers to broaden their approach.
“The strength, depth and diversity of the submissions really shows how the Boomtown concept struck a nerve,” he said.
Australian Community Media’s national sales and partnerships director Penny Kaleta said: “For me it demonstrates an acceptance for the industry to start lifting its gaze beyond the confines of our cities and suburbs to see the richness regional Australia offers.
“It’s still early days but the simple fact that regional Australia is home to 36% of us yet account for only about 10% of national advertising budgets should be as staggering a statistic as it is compelling for everyone in adland.
“For me Boomtown has led to a rethink of national brands about the effectiveness of their media investments in regional Australia.”
Boomtown is a joint initiative between SCA, Prime Media Group, Win Network, TRSN, Australian Community Media, Imparja and News Corp Australia.
topics
ACM
Australian Community Media
Boomtown
Cummins & Partners Melbourne
Dave Walker
Grant Broadcasters
Kirby McDonald
Mindshare
News Corp Australia
Penny Kaleta
PHD
Prime Media Group
Rebecca Drummond
San Remo
SCA
Southern Cross Austereo
Wavemaker Adelaide
WIN Network
