Morse Code was an antiquated method of transmitting messages through a series of clicks that can only be directly understood by a skilled listener. To become said skilled listener you had to be fluent in morse code, which would take months just to learn to understand up to 5 words per minute. So to show people just how difficult this was, in comparison to how marvellous today is, we made a radio spot purely from Morse Code.

To help people put in perspective how good they have it today, Rustlers ran a national radio campaign that was purely 40 seconds of morse code. Just simple “dots” and “dashes” for the full 40 seconds. Even the brand name and end line only appeared as morse code. When translated it said: “Can you believe we used to communicate like this? Rustlers burgers in 90 seconds. What A Time To Be Alive." We then bought the search term, so anybody who googled it was not only rewarded with the translation, but a free Rustlers burger.

The campaign exceeded commercial objectives, with penetration up 8% and year-on-year revenue growth up 18.8% in a category that only grew 3.72%. Purchase frequency was also up 18% and spend per buyer 21%, among our key target group. Correlation between regional ad spend and regional sales uplift showed the above the line assets to be the most significant driver in this.