Branded Content/Entertainment in Australia is relatively free of restrictions and regulations.

However, the brand, or funding source, must be openly disclosed to the audience. This

applies to all main media.

Within TV, of the five main Free-To-Air networks, two of them have

significant restrictions - the national government-owned ABC can have absolutely no branded

content, or commercial reference to brands. The other, SBS, has considerable restrictions.

The current climate in Australia regarding branded entertainment is one of major commercial

growth and momentum. Online platforms and subscription TV are the most popular for placement of branded entertainment, but Free-To-Air TV is by far the most desirable and the most difficult to secure.

Independent estimates of 25% growth for branded content on TV in 2013 are common.

A change in ownership had left OAK flavoured milk without distribution. OAK’s fans were up in arms, but with the category in rapid decline, shopkeepers weren’t interested.

Our objective was to secure 20 stores for OAK targeting sceptical shopkeepers.

Our strategy focused on engaging and mobilising OAK’s Facebook fanbase. We would use them to prove OAK’s popularity and to identify individual stores that didn’t stock OAK, but were located in an area with strong consumer demand.

Our projected response rate was 2% amongst OAK’s Facebook fans.

This data would focus the sales force where it could have the biggest impact.

The idea was “Reverse Robberies” a shock and awe approach to distribution that turned robbery on its head, by forcibly stocking convenience stores. Reinforcing OAK’s provocative and irreverent personality.

Our gang of Reverse Robbers were dressed as Sgt John Henry (the lead character from our popular ongoing campaign) a tough-as-nails veteran who didn’t tolerate indecision.

After launching the Reverse Robberies manifesto on Facebook, OAK fans nominated stores in need of Reverse Robberies.

As individual stores scored enough nominations to support sales, we Reverse Robbed them and shared the content encouraging more nominations.

OAK’s sales force took care of the rest.

Reverse Robberies turned a potentially dull distribution brief into a truly engaging and entertaining brand building campaign.

Simply asking fans to nominate a store for OAK to stock would have been lame. Especially because OAK is positioned as the full-strength and full-on flavoured milk with a provocative and irreverent personality.

The ‘take no prisoners’ attitude of Reverse Robberies reinforced OAK’s bold positioning and addressed consumer apathy towards the declining flavoured milk category.

Our unique use of Facebook fan data to locate individual stores in areas with existing consumer demand helped solve a major distribution issue, using real time creative responsiveness.

Key brand advocates had been involved in shaping the content from the beginning, via the OAK Facebook page, giving us an engaged audience-base from the outset.

Additional blogger outreach helped fuel the organic distribution of the video content. It became a self-perpetuating cycle of audience feedback – event - content release – audience growth – audience feedback etc.

Content was viewed either directly on a dedicated You Tube channel or on a dedicated Facebook promotional tab. Audience involvement and interaction was via either platform, but predominantly happened on Facebook.

Reverse Robberies succeeded in convincing sceptical shopkeepers to stock OAK.

Reverse Robberies secured 60 new stores for OAK, resulting in an ROI that was 13 times the investment and 3 times our original target.

OAK’s Facebook fans were highly engaged, submitting over 3,000 requests for a Reverse Robbery, equating to a 30% response rate that superseded the 2% target.

The campaign evolved in real-time, with fans requesting a Reverse Robbery for their homes. OAK obliged and more content was created.

It doubled OAK’s Facebook fan base, scored No.2 on YouTube’s coveted ‘Entertainment’ category and was named IAB Creative Showcase 7.3 winner.