Toohey's - Wild beer ideas

I like to think I'm not one to slag off a campaign. You never know the ins and outs of the strategy and the relationship with the client. So I will try and remain constructive on this one, but I'm referring to this Toohey's New ad that aired recently on Aussie TV.



I love the production. It is quirky and has a nice personality and to be fair it makes me want to watch it all the way through. So half the battle has been won. However why did they force it into this big online 'wild beer idea' participation thing. It just doesn't really do it for me. Why?

Because they have no intention of actually doing any of these ideas. Which defeats the object of it all really doesn't it? I for one would like to have seen a lager swilling Aussie, preferrably a sports fan, chryogenically frozen. Unfortunately for Toohey's there are more comments on the site from industry types than there are from their target audience. Those that are on there look a bit set up. You know the thing where someone sends a staff email and asks everyone to sign up to a site and leave a comment. Admit it, we have all done it.

I would have been happy going to a slick site, registering my details with the opportunity to win a fridge. Job done. There needs to be some purpose otherwise it lacks any kind of authenticity. There was a neat idea in there but someone somewhere didn't want to follow it through. It lacked a bit of conviction to turn it into a great participation campaign, which would have been really cool. It would have been more interesting to see it move offline as more of a 'wild beer reward' for Toohey's New drinkers, something that mobilses people into some kind of group action. People could of voted for one of three proposed 'wild beer events' that Toohey's were putting on for free.