1900-9-JIMBEAM

This campaign was created during the rise of the ‘Meterosexual’ in the early 2000s. In an effort to get young men to drink more Jim Beam, we played on the stereotypical Aussie image of men and turned it upside down. We launched a tongue-in-cheek helpline to help Australian men whenever they questioned their masculinity. It offered advice on subjects such as diet, relationships, and cars and suggested hanging up if they sought information on drama or the arts. Using multiple channels, 1900-9-JIMBEAM spread like wildfire and became a cultural movement that generated 50,000 calls in just 8 weeks. Men who needed further help received a DM pack that included a personalised letter addressing their issue plus a set of stickers to place on offending items (such as Celine Dion CD’s or skim milk). 1900-9-JIMBEAM soon became vernacular amongst young men and also shifted 5.4m additional cans, raising market share by 4.5% and giving a 70% ROI.

It was a lot of fun at the time and the campaign went on to win a Grand Prix at Cannes. And 1900-9-JIMBEAM was lauded by the One Report as one of the most influential campaigns of the 2000's.

We ran a print ad in New Woman magazine, pointing out that men shouldn't be reading such publications in the first place.

Below are some of the radio ads we made.

This is what the helpline sounded like when callers got through. Of course, the call centre staff were never there because they were off doing ‘manly stuff’.

Men received sets of stickers in the mail and they were also available in-store. They were used to point out offending items.