The new Castle Saturday promotion is founded on the concept of combining two quintessentially South African pastimes: the Saturday braai, and drinking Castle Lager with the lads while watching or playing sport.
Says Castle Lager Executive Brand Manager, Nerisha Ganasen, “thirtyfour and ATL Agency, Ogilvy Cape Town, have been a “Castle Dream Team” in developing the promotion together. After thirtyfour's successful “Back the Boks” World Cup campaign of 2007, the all new ‘beers, boys and braai' campaign is a result of our internal insight and thirtyfour's clever pairing of these elements into a “You braai, We bring” campaign which is supported creatively by Ogilvy. Castle Saturday gives 100 Castle Lager consumers the chance to win R1Million cash each over eight weeks. Every winner is also guaranteed to walk away with braai gear, products and prizes valued at R10 000 each.”
Managing Director of thirtyfour, Morne Fourie says, “Castle Lager is part of the national identity and as synonymous with Saturday as guys getting together to braai and play or watch sport with their mates. Conceptually the campaign is founded on a win-win principle that rewards Castle Lager consumers for supporting a brand they enjoy both at point of purchase and at the point of consumption. Castle Saturday transforms a national pastime into a measurable, multiple Million Rand promotion that resonates with beer consumers across the country.”
The Castle Saturday campaign will extend to over 42 000 Castle Lager outlets, across South Africa, and is premised on the purchase of any promotional Castle product between September and the end of October. Each product features a unique Saturday Serial number which the purchaser uses to SMS his personal details and the location of his next Castle Saturday braai. Entries are cumulative and based directly on Castle Lager sales. The entrants recorded from the previous week's sales are entered into one of eight weekly draws from which between ten and 14 winners are drawn every week from all over South Africa. The Castle Saturday mobile team is then deployed each Saturday by helicopter to drop in on that week's winners at their Saturday braai destinations, from Sandton to Gugulethu. In the event that the braai hasn't taken place or if Castle Lager is not being consumed at the braai, the winner will forfeit his chance of bagging the Castle Saturday prize. Each winner is guaranteed a Castle Saturday ultimate luxury braai, meat and beer (?) product valued at R10 000 as well as a chance to play there and then for R1Million in the Castle Saturday ‘Money Wall Game'. In order for each week's winners to become instant millionaires, contestants have to choose the three out of 12 Castle Money Bags that contain the Castle Saturday logo.
Castle Saturday promoters administrate, explain, run and become the self auditing film crew by capturing each ‘Money Wall Game' on camera in strict compliance with the auditing principles that have been put in place by thirtyfour's international promotional risk management partners, PIMS-SCA. With the odds calculated in advance, the probability of each week's contestants walking off with millions of Rands is insured by various international underwriters.
Says SAB National Activation Manager, Mark Andrew, “Castle Saturday represents an extremely complex engagement programme involving all of SAB's regional promotions and events teams, as well as branded helicopters, 4x4's and mobile ground squads. The campaign combines mobile, online, radio and a massive trade drive with all the benefits of increased targeting, direct response and engagement capabilities that brand activation delivers. The mobile component not only engages today's conscious consumer in a way that delivers tangible value to their support of a brand, but resonates with the lifestyle, interests and behaviour of the typical Castle Lager consumer.”
The Castle Saturday campaign is underpinned by an ATL campaign that includes nine regional and one national radio station across all five major national languages. The campaign includes traditional call-to-action promos and sponsored weather and sport reports as a build up to each weekend.
“Radio provides the ultimate count down to each Castle Saturday weekend, and will include interviews with some of South Africa's best loved sports heroes who will provide listeners with personal braai tips and increase the anticipation ahead of that week's Castle Saturday helicopter drop-ins,” comments Fourie.
Over 1.6 million limited edition Castle Saturday braai packs - containing eight cans of beer with two extra for the braai master and a special Castle Saturday six pack of 340ml bottles - were distributed to bottle stores last week, to coincide with South Africa's spring braai season.
