GM Holden's share of the Ute category (‘Utility’ recreational pick-ups) was under threat. The once mighty Holden Ute had dwindled to only 3% purchase intention. The VE Holden Ute was scheduled for launch in September and our challenge was to triple intention to 9%! The audience for this iconic masculine brand was historically the macho ‘Crocodile Dundee’ Aussie bloke, but times had changed. Many reports told us that Crocodile Dundee had become a sensitive guy, a metrosexual who used moisturiser! However, digging deeper we found the good old Aussie was still alive; he was just hidden under the surface, shackled by today’s politically correct world. Our strategy was to leverage the moments when the shackles were off – providing unique content and experiences that they would be desperate to talk to their mates about.

Our ‘zero-budget’ pre-launch campaign drove 12,000 registrations and 50% of the launch sales target in pre-orders!Purchase intention rose from 3% to 16% in one-month! Dealers said they were booked solid with test drives and Ute sales for 6 months from launch! And we re-discovered the true Aussie bloke!

In 2007 Australia’s 3 biggest sporting events collided into one massive week. This was perfect for Ute, a week when Aussie blokes had permission to break free from the shackles; think Superbowl for a whole week!This was our window of opportunity. However, advertising clutter would be enormous. We needed to reach our guys earlier, build momentum and pre-launch anticipation to maximize our impact at launch. Prior to launch, rather than use money we used our time! We spent weeks in blogs and forums (where blokes could be themselves, uninhibited by society) influencing the influencers of car decisions.

We drove them to a website (with the new Ute under a sheet) and encouraged them to register to see the Ute gradually revealed; fuelling their desire to be the first to know and pass it on. 6,000 people visited the microsite in first 24-hours! The word was spreading fast.

We identified rare moments when blokes were not discussing the game and delivered them unexpected Ute moments. We called it “Game-time down-time”.AFL Final: we arranged the pre-game rock band (Jet) and our launch TV commercial to play back to back – with Jet playing the soundtrack of our TV commercial live in the Grand Final!NRL Final: we sponsored the half-time show to deliver new Ute experiences.Bathurst 500: Ute was the pre-race entertainment itself! The TV presenter made a 5-minute movie of his journey to the race in our Ute; a test drive televised for the masses! In addition we worked with lad’s magazines to give reviews, posters and Bathurst tickets, getting the editors talking about our Ute. …And finally, radio promotions entitled, “why my man deserves a new Ute!” even encouraged blokes to talk about Utes with their wives!