Billboards get ignored. Furphy knew this, so they set out to stop people in their tracks, literally, with a ‘7.8 tonne beer truck billboard wedged between two skyscrapers in Sydney's CBD. In addition, they used ‘leaked’ CCTV footage, a paid actor playing a confused truck driver, and an organic mass pick-up of UGC to transform an unbelievable stunt into a multi-channel campaign over Australia’s social media/news.

This abundance of chatter across channels led people to the campaign’s free trial of the new beer, making it the most tried new product launch within the Lion’s portfolio.

Note: Furphy is an Aussie beer brand that also means an unbelievable tall-tale.

Furphy needed to launch their new Crisp Lager to the masses, however, the Australian beer industry is made up of around 350 breweries and microbreweries - not to mention the big international beer drinkers tempting Aussie drinkers. In order to stand out in a saturated market with a limited budget, ignite the watercooler conversation, and get people to sample their new crisp liquid, they themselves needed to do something truly unbelievable.

In short, Furphy needed an unbelievable, instagrammable activation that sparked the imagination and thirst of beer drinkers.

To combat the sea of sameness, Furphy devised a plan to create a visual furphy of their own. The billboard/tall-tale came in the form of a 7.8 tonne, Furphy ‘Crisp Lager’-branded truck upturned onto its back and wedged perfectly between two buildings in Sydney’s CBD. How did it get there you may ask? There are many theories - maybe it was a bungled theft attempt, a reversing off the top of the building, an alien abduction, a glitch in the simulation, a delivery driver getting high off his own supply; who knows?! Well, we know. And we know it has enough intrigue to get people searching for the delicious truth - an unbelievable brand activation with an unbelievable free trial of Furphy’s Crisp Lager.

Target audience (consumer demographic / individuals / organizations): Marketing science has taught us that when launching a new product you have to ignite the imagination of as many category buyers as your marketing budget can cater for. In our case, launching a new crisp beer under the Furphy masterbrand, we had to speak to everyone of legal drinking age with a mouth.

Approach: The best way to put liquid on lips is getting people to sample the new unbelievable brew.

And sample we did, using Furphy’s promise of “Unbelievable” - a beer drinker’s dream come true, a tipped over beer truck with plenty of free beers for everyone. Done.

Furphy worked with a renowned Australian artist to craft this 7.8 tonne billboard/tall-tale. In the middle of the night, the truck was snuck in and craned ever-so carefully into Sydney’s Little Hunter Street, just outside Town Hall station (one of Sydney's biggest train stations).

With the hazard lights flicked on and cases of lager scattered around its base for extra authenticity, it was time for the sun to rise and the show to begin.

To fuel the furphy further, they paid an actor to be the bamboozled truck driver, gathering a curious crowd of onlookers to bask at the truck throughout the day. The stunt was live for just 3 days which turned out to be plenty of time to ignite the internet in debate.

Footage of the stuck truck, edited to look like CCTV footage, was also supplied to the press to create an extra layer of realism.

Within hours, images of the stuck truck had traveled around the country, with commentators having their own take on what the story could be (this includes more than 172k active likes on TikTok content and 3.9m impressions on Twitter). Only the true detectives dug deep enough to find it was to launch their refreshing Crisp Lager.

Media coverage reached over 25 million impressions (20,196,826 earned, 5,119,090 paid). From some of the most popular news sources for young people (PedestrianTV, Ladbible, Betoota Advocate) to the massive news juggernauts (The Australian, DailyMail, etc), beer drinkers everywhere turned their screens to see this truck.

With its reach and engagement across social and PR, Furphy's beer-truck billboard not only took Crisp Lager from unknown to the most talked about beer in the country, but made it the most impactful stunt that year with the highest conversion from awareness to trial, achieving something truly ‘unbelievable’.

Billboards get ignored. Furphy knew this, so they set out to stop people in their tracks, literally, with a ‘7.8 tonne beer truck billboard wedged between two skyscrapers in Sydney's CBD. In addition, they used ‘leaked’ CCTV footage, a paid actor playing a confused truck driver, and an organic mass pick-up of UGC to transform an unbelievable stunt into a multi-channel campaign over Australia’s social media/news.

This abundance of chatter across channels led people to the campaign’s free trial of the new beer, making it the most tried new product launch within the Lion’s portfolio.

1.Furphy is an Aussie beer brand that also means an unbelievable tall-tale.

2. An over-turned beer truck is a beer-lovers dream come true.