Golden Circle invests in content play to drive brand purpose
- 30 November, 2017 14:28
Iconic Aussie brand, Golden Circle, has invested in its first children’s book and brand ambassador as part of efforts to emphasise its family friendly purpose with Australian consumers.
The upcoming children’s book, entitled Nothing Happens Outside, has been created by new brand ambassador and Let’s Activate founder, Lee Watson, and illustrator, Heath McKenzie. The intention is to inspire children and families to lesson screen time and encourage more outdoor activity through content that highlights the benefits of physical activity and sharing moments together.
Golden Circle brand director, Heather Hart, told CMO the book launch follows 12 months on from the launch of a fresh campaign, ‘join the SunHour movement’, encouraging Australians to spend more time out-of-doors and spend less time focused on technology. The campaign strived to do this by asking consumers to make a pledge to spend at least one hour outside, and saw Golden Circle donating hundreds of bikes to less fortunate kids in return.
Golden Circle also partnered with Screen Time Labs to provide a technology ‘blocking’ app that turned screens off, helping parents get kids off mobile devices and get outdoors.
“This book is an extension of that campaign and about encouraging a positive message around building special moments outside,” Hart said. “Golden Circle has always believed in the goodness of sunshine and the joy of being outside. We wanted to articulate that and those moments together and highlight our 70-year old brand’s family friendly brand purpose.”
Hart said investing in content was about bringing the brand purpose to life. “The book allows us to communicate our message and bring that to life. We’re telling a story to children, but also our communication channel is the book. We hope it will be around many years.”
Depending on the success of the first edition, Hart hoped to be able to do a second and third version of the book.
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100,000 copies of the book will be available from 15 January – in time for the back to school frenzy - and redeemable after purchasing any three Golden Circle juice or drink products. It’s being supported by extensive radio advertising and PR as well as a strong in-store presence, including point-of-sale material reflecting key characters in the book.
Recognising content ROI is a “slow burn”, Hart said she’ll take her first cues on the book’s success through the company’s annual brand equity research.
“This is not about immediate sales… the true results will be in brand perceptions and the love of the brand,” she said.
Hart said Golden Circle executives had bought into the importance of the content investment from the outset. “That let us explore, and encouraged us to be innovative,” she added.
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