The Great Christmas Gift Wrapping Swindle

DESCRIPTION

Neighbouring Australian football teams, Brisbane and Gold Coast go head to head in an annual derby that takes place on Boxing Day. In a bid to increase ticket sales for the game, the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) engaged Lowe Sydney to come up with a campaign to promote the match, traditionally seen as a quiet fixture in the post-Christmas schedule.

Lowe Sydney decided to capitalise on the busy pre-Christmas retail environment, by placing free gift wrapping stalls in strategic Brisbane locations. Shoppers were able to have any gift wrapped, free of charge, on the condition they used the paper provided by the stall. Busy shoppers were too pre-occupied with the stress of Christmas preparations to pay close attention to the wrapping paper design, which featured small cartoons making fun of the Brisbane football team. The inside of the wrapping paper was printed with the details of the match, and a website where tickets were available.

Shortly before Christmas, word began to spread of the “offensive” wrapping paper, and the media were tipped off about the campaign. Popular consensus laid the blame with Gold Coast and online sports blogs went into meltdown as fans vented their anger and blamed one another for the incident. The item was covered in the papers and reached the evening news.

The resulting publicity drove ticket sales to a season high, achieving a crowd of 11,000 spectators, 300% above the season average. The Wrapping Paper Swindle is estimated to have generated over AUS$100,000 in free media, from a campaign spend of AUS$15,000. Despite the increased support, Brisbane still lost the match.

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