On 22 January 2010 Auckland woke up to see a traffic cone on the top of the sky tower. The tallest building in the southern hemisphere. No one knew how it got there. No one.The conversation that followed helped launch the ‘V’ Energy Pocket Rocket and the TV component rated the most distinctive and most interesting ad ever in New Zealand as recorded by Milward Brown.The campaign has helped V outsell Coke in convenience stores. The only place in the world where Coke is outsold by an energy drink.

The idea centred around a simple road cone.

Road cones started appearing in unusual places all over Auckland. TV & Radio DJ’s started talking about them and people called in with their own sightings. The question was “who’s behind this?”Two weeks later, Auckland woke up to see an orange traffic cone on the top of the Sky Tower – the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.

The media, blogs and twitter were in a frenzy about how on earth it got there.

A link to a YouTube clip spread with amateur footage of a man in a Rocket Pack putting a cone on the Sky Tower.The clip drove people to a website where you found information about the new product – ‘V Pocket Rocket’ - a concentrated hit of ‘V’ energy.The campaign then spread to TV, outdoor, digital and product sampling.But the debate didn’t stop there, the big question became “was it real, or was it fake?” And the debate still continues today.

The debate about who did it, how they did it, and if it actually happened at all, helped this campaign smash Millward Brown’s 54% awareness norm, driving 89% awareness of V Pocket Rocket in its first three months.Total V sales grew 32% to finish on the highest 3-month sales figure ever.The TVC measured as the most ‘distinctive’ and ‘interesting’ ad on record for Millward Brown in New Zealand.V Pocket Rocket claimed 51% share of the energy shot market in the first five months.