Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Reinforce Expertise As 'Sommeli-Airs' Of The Air
In a highly competitive category that’s hard to navigate, the new campaign by Connecting Plots seeks to unlock the assurance of an expert opinion, with the MHIAA Air Experts behaving like wine sommeliers – but with air.
It’s the third iteration of ‘The Experts in Air’, a brand platform that takes a humorous and light-hearted approach to presenting MHIAA as the true experts of the air-conditioning by stating that to truly understand air, MHIAA takes air exploration to the extreme.
“We understand that most Aussie’s are only in the market for an air-conditioner a few times in their life, if ever and that the brand affinity seen in other product categories isn’t as strong. So why not have some fun in what is usually a pretty conservative category and grab the attention of immediate and future customers so they can make an informed decision when the time is right.”
MHIAA Marketing Manager, Jenny Perello.
The brand strategy continues to focus on long term growth through distinctive and consistent brand building, underpinned by MHIAA’s heritage, credibility, customer satisfaction and the fact they are the most independently awarded air-con brand in Australia; with over 14 awards from CHOICE®, Canstar Blue, Finder and Product Review. The campaign also looks to uplift short term sales with a cash bonus promotion targeting both consumers and installers, who are highly influential figures in the sales process.
“Over the past three years, we’ve built on ‘The Experts In Air’ platform with a unique brand of humour to unashamedly claim category-leadership. When in doubt, you ask an expert and with their heritage and awards, that’s exactly what MHIAA are – our job is to convey that in a fun and compelling way that helps them stand apart.”
Connecting Plots Co-Founder, Dave Jansen.
The campaign is running across TV, BVOD, YouTube, radio, social, online, POS and owned channels, working closely in collaboration with media agency Speed.
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Sydney Royal Easter Show Says 'Find Your Happy Place' In New Creative Platform Via Connecting Plots
This new campaign follows the Royal Agricultural Society Of NSW appointment of Connecting Plots as its new creative agency of record following a competitive pitch that took place in November 2022.
In their first project for RAS, Connecting Plots have created ‘Find Your Happy Place’ a creative platform that builds upon the heritage and creative direction that the Sydney Royal Easter Show has followed since 2017 – the home of childhood wonder and joy, punctuated by the mnemonic device, ‘Happy and you know it’.
There’s a lot of nostalgia associated with the Sydney Royal Easter Show. We wanted Connecting Plots to leverage that heritage and capture the wonder and joy of childhood while also making the campaign feel new and contemporary.
RAS Head of Marketing, Frances Jewell
The new creative platform has been brought to life through the entire customer experience with a strong visual identity that builds upon the iconic elements from the Easter Show including the ribbons from the agriculture awards and hero brand colours of red and purple. Meanwhile the iconic ‘Happy and you know it’ theme song from previous campaigns has been evolved into a playful whistling device that carries throughout the different creative.
In order to understand how to evolve the existing campaign direction, we conducted research with a partner company to analyse the previous campaigns to see what we should keep, change and build upon. From these learnings, we created the organising platform ‘Find Your Happy Place’ that evolved the existing creative and showed that, with all the different experiences on offer at the showgrounds, there truly is a happy place for everyone.
Connecting Plots Co-Founder, Dave Jansen
The ‘Find Your Happy Place’ creative platform has been designed to create consistency and cohesion across all of the show’s collateral. The visual identity has been applied across every single impression, from TVCs, social, radio and OOH through to media kits, selfie photo frames and the spectacular nightly drone show.
The Sydney Royal Easter Show and the ‘Find Your Happy Place’ campaign will run until Monday 17 April with pre-sales already hitting an all time high.
30 SECONDS Outdoor Cleaner Launch New Potty-Mouthed Creative Platform Via Connecting Plots
Tasked with creating an enduring creative platform and through-the-line brand experience, the activity has been developed by Connecting Plots to bring a unique and relatable identity to the New Zealand brand within the Australian market.
30 SECONDS has experienced strong growth and category-leadership in recent years, in part due to back-to-back La Niña events causing exponential growth in mould and mildew.
While we’ve established a strong footprint within hardware retailers, the task has now turned to cementing 30 SECONDS as the go-to outdoor cleaner in the minds of Aussie consumers. That’s why we turned to Connecting Plots to build the brand and create consistency across our entire brand experience.
30 SECONDS Chief Executive Officer, James Pearson
The new creative platform ‘Let’s Clean Things Up’ champions the satisfaction of seeing a specialist cleaner at work, bringing a fun and unashamedly Aussie spin to an otherwise low-interest category.
At the heart of the campaign are the loveable, stubby-wearing and house-proud gnomes Gneil and Gnoelene, two no-nonsense ‘Spokes-Gnomes’ on a mission to show home loving Aussies how to clean things up – in their own inimitable way.
Knowing that 30 SECONDS operates in a low-interest category, we needed to get people’s attention and stand apart from competitors in every single impression, from radio through to pallet wraps. Gneil and Gnoelene are already doing just that with their colourful turn of phrase.
Connecting Plots Co-Founder, Tom Phillips
Giving the brand a distinctive, slightly potty-mouthed tone of voice, Gneil and Gnoelene act as a cohesive branding device throughout the 30 SECONDS brand and customer experience ranging from video, OOH, radio, social, digital and website through to in-store activations, sales collateral and internal communications.
The campaign has been developed in collaboration with media agency, Co.gency, with client, creative and media working closely together since the onset of the campaign.
It has been a pleasure to work hand-in-glove with both 30 SECONDS and Connecting Plots from the initial brief. We explored a range of media options to find the right balance of reach and impact for the creative platform. I’m excited to see Gneil and Gnoelene come to life in different ways across each of these channels.
Co.gency Managing Partner, James Currah.
The new campaign launches this week with a series of extensions and innovations planned for the loveable characters into 2024 and beyond.
Menulog Is Giving Aussie's a Chance To Win Custom Katy Perry Inspired 'Sushi Sneakers'
Developed by Connecting Plots, the campaign extends the global brand platform in Australia by having some fun with the eclectic and indulgent iconography from Katy Perry’s larger-than-life ‘Did Somebody Say’ campaign, paying homage to her iconic sushi dress worn in the video.
To secure a pair of the coveted custom ‘Sushi Sneakers’ and a year’s supply of sushi, Menulog has partnered with TikTok to create a category-first branded lens and interactive game feature called ‘Menulog Run’, a way to enhance the delivery experience by giving customers game play during wait-time. Players must dodge bins and catch Aussie food favourites while navigating a Menulog courier as they race to complete a delivery on time.
The custom sneaker designs are modelled on the classic Nike Air Force 1s and feature a salmon maki roll inspired colour palette, complemented with striking rice prints, fishtail loops, emergency soy sauce pouch and a pair of chopsticks.
To bring the shoes to life, Menulog has collaborated with iconic Melbourne-based sneaker creator, Damian Sim “BespokeIND” who has designed custom shoes for celebrities and designers including Drake, French Montana, Dior and Louis Vuitton.
We partnered with one of the world’s top shoe customisers to create the first ever sushi sneakers, bringing to life the excessive and indulgent world of Katy Perry who we know our fans love. At Menulog we seek to bring the best possible delivery experience to our customers, and our TikTok game delivers joy to hungry Aussie’s while they wait for their food. We’re excited for the three lucky winners who will get their hands on these one-of-a-kind sneakers!
Menulog Marketing Director, Simon Cheng
The Menulog Run game has achieved over 30,000 plays and 1,000+ entries within the first five days, with the TopView takeover reaching over 2.8 million people.
The abstract world of Katy Perry has given us something very iconic and visual to play with. Sneaker culture is no longer niche and so what better way to create local relevance for the Katy Perry campaign than by combining these two worlds and having some fun along the way.
Connecting Plots Co-Founder, Dave Jansen
Menulog Run will be available for TikTok users to play until 1 February 2023.
Schwarzkopf Launch New Sustainable Hair Care Range Via Connecting Plots
The creative platform ‘Great hair makes a world of difference’ deliberately talks to the eco-conscious consumer who won’t compromise on the quality hair products that Schwarzkopf is renowned for.
Schwarzkopf are leaders in high performance hair care products the world over and we’re excited to be able to use our influence in the category to now also be more sustainable. Our goal is to be the go-to hair care product for those looking to do their small part in minimising wasteful packaging.
Schwarzkopf ANZ Marketing Manager, Anne-Marie Viguier
The campaign, developed by Connecting Plots, takes into account research by University of Leeds showing that people are still unwilling to buy green products because of doubts over the products performance ability, with most consumers perceiving them to be less effective.
Harvard Business Review says 65% of consumers want sustainable products, but only 26% will prioritise them when buying. So while sustainability is key, we need to think about what’s actually going to make this product a commercial success. Appealing to category cues, speaking to the audience’s needs, creating a lasting impression, that’s what will drive success. This campaign shows the audience this product is the quality and standard you would expect from Schwarzkopf but delivered in an eco-friendly and new way.
Integrated Strategy & Planning Partner, Tim Collier
The campaign is rolling out across Video on Demand, YouTube and OOH.
Connecting Plots has been working with Schwarzkopf for two years and last year developed the hugely successful LIVE Colour hashtag challenge campaign on TikTok which achieved over 34 million total views and grew LIVE Colour loyalists by 113%.