OUR WORK

THE

BRIEF

Goose Island wanted to highlight its bold, full flavour and do so in a way that ingratiated itself into Australian culture in a fun, meaningful and creative way.

THE

SOLUTION

Located in remote NSW, the shire of Bland is a long way from the flavour capitals of Sydney and Melbourne. Suffering the effects of the drought, it was in need of a fun and free activity to bring the community together in a tough time.

And so Bringing Bold to Bland was born.

Bastion Effect worked with the much-loved local Bland Shire General Manager Ray Smith to pen and release a humorous open letter and campaign video calling on Aussies to send Bland their flavour inspiration.

It is safe to say the plea for flavour didn’t go unnoticed thanks to our crack media team. Even Prime Minister Scott Morrison heard it loud and clear, responding directly to Ray via Twitter video to offer his own recipe.

Ray become a national icon overnight.

Goose Island hosted flavour drop off points in Melbourne and Sydney for those wanting to share ingredients and recipes with the Shire of Bland, offering those over 18 free product for their efforts.

The brand also hosted the first ever Bland Flavour Festival, a free event that brought the people of Bland together at a time when they needed to support one another.

All in all more than 100 media outlets picked up the story, with our message providing more than 40 million opportunities to see it.

THE

BRIEF

Bastion Effect was tasked with planning and executing an integrated public relations campaign to launch DARWIN Home Wellness Intelligence to the Australian market on behalf of global wellness real estate pioneers, Delos. Our challenge was to bring the healthy home movement to Australian shores and launch DARWIN as a world-first wellness solution in the residential sector.

THE

SOLUTION

Bastion Effect developed a three-pillared strategy incorporating media relations, stakeholder and industry engagement, and brand ambassador activation to launch DARWIN with a bang.

We kicked-off the campaign with an exclusive media famil to the US, to immerse a core group of journalists in the DARWIN story and educate them on this new category in property. Our trip included  stops at Delos HQ in New York; the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota (a research partner); and LA to inspect mansions under construction featuring the DARWIN product. 

Back home in Australia, we coordinated an official launch event attended by industry stakeholders and featuring a guest speaker from the Green Building Council of Australia, along with product demonstrations enabling guests to ‘touch and feel’ the technology and smarts behind the DARWIN product. 

Also in the launch week, we delivered an ‘open home’ event – a community day full of wellness activations to showcase the DARWIN product in situ at a fully fitted-out display home in order to drive sales. This was the first time the buying public had the opportunity to learn about and experience a true ‘healthy home’. Our brand ambassador, Shaynna Blaze, was on-hand to provide healthy living and wellness design advice to our enthralled audience.

Tier one media coverage was timed to drop in launch week, with a focus on business, property and real estate sections to underpin the importance of ‘wellness real estate’ and more specifically, the healthy home movement. Further, an exclusive media walk-through of the first DARWIN home – attended by our brand ambassador, News Corp journalists and Nine News – was a key moment to capture content and localise the story. 

Today, Delos is a key part of the Bastion family, with one of our staff members seconded into the Australian Delos team to drive marketing. Meanwhile, the rest of our team Delos continue to foster the strong bonds forged with media, cement the right partnerships to drive brand awareness, activate sponsorships and foster industry support.

THE

BRIEF

For nearly 150 years, Blundstone has been known as a tradie boot in Australia. Overseas though, it is considered a cult streetwear product and its lifestyle sales are booming. At home the brand needed to redefine itself.

To help create demand with fashion and lifestyle retailers and consumers, we needed to drive a new wave of currency for Blundstone. We know fashion trends start from those cultural tastemakers in the know and expand from their circles of influence.

THE

SOLUTION

We created a unique, ROI driven influencer program for Blundstone that aims to build social goodwill, authentic relationships and endorsements across fashion, music, arts, outdoors, food and surfing circles.

We did this by establishing the Blundstone Family, a group of influencers with authentic and genuine enthusiasm for the brand’s boots. Instead of a commercial relationship, we sent our family members on experiences that fit Blundstone’s positioning ‘Everywhere Life Takes Me’ where they’d capture content as they enjoyed life in their boots.

From collaborations to content to social posts and everything in between, the result has been phenomenal. Blundstone is now the boot of choice for every occasion.

“Bastion have helped find the right people to connect with us, the right partnerships and to do that they have had to understand us deeply as a business.” – Adam Blake, Blundstone Global Head of Brand, Design and Consumer Engagement.

THE

BRIEF

Goose Island wanted to highlight its bold, full flavour and do so in a way that ingratiated itself into Australian culture in a fun, meaningful and creative way.

THE

SOLUTION

Located in remote NSW, the shire of Bland is a long way from the flavour capitals of Sydney and Melbourne. Suffering the effects of the drought, it was in need of a fun and free activity to bring the community together in a tough time.

And so Bringing Bold to Bland was born.

Bastion Effect worked with the much-loved local Bland Shire General Manager Ray Smith to pen and release a humorous open letter and campaign video calling on Aussies to send Bland their flavour inspiration.

It is safe to say the plea for flavour didn’t go unnoticed thanks to our crack media team. Even Prime Minister Scott Morrison heard it loud and clear, responding directly to Ray via Twitter video to offer his own recipe.

Ray become a national icon overnight.

Goose Island hosted flavour drop off points in Melbourne and Sydney for those wanting to share ingredients and recipes with the Shire of Bland, offering those over 18 free product for their efforts.

The brand also hosted the first ever Bland Flavour Festival, a free event that brought the people of Bland together at a time when they needed to support one another.

All in all more than 100 media outlets picked up the story, with our message providing more than 40 million opportunities to see it.

THE

BRIEF

Bastion Effect was tasked with planning and executing an integrated public relations campaign to launch DARWIN Home Wellness Intelligence to the Australian market on behalf of global wellness real estate pioneers, Delos. Our challenge was to bring the healthy home movement to Australian shores and launch DARWIN as a world-first wellness solution in the residential sector.

THE

SOLUTION

Bastion Effect developed a three-pillared strategy incorporating media relations, stakeholder and industry engagement, and brand ambassador activation to launch DARWIN with a bang.

We kicked-off the campaign with an exclusive media famil to the US, to immerse a core group of journalists in the DARWIN story and educate them on this new category in property. Our trip included  stops at Delos HQ in New York; the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota (a research partner); and LA to inspect mansions under construction featuring the DARWIN product. 

Back home in Australia, we coordinated an official launch event attended by industry stakeholders and featuring a guest speaker from the Green Building Council of Australia, along with product demonstrations enabling guests to ‘touch and feel’ the technology and smarts behind the DARWIN product. 

Also in the launch week, we delivered an ‘open home’ event – a community day full of wellness activations to showcase the DARWIN product in situ at a fully fitted-out display home in order to drive sales. This was the first time the buying public had the opportunity to learn about and experience a true ‘healthy home’. Our brand ambassador, Shaynna Blaze, was on-hand to provide healthy living and wellness design advice to our enthralled audience.

Tier one media coverage was timed to drop in launch week, with a focus on business, property and real estate sections to underpin the importance of ‘wellness real estate’ and more specifically, the healthy home movement. Further, an exclusive media walk-through of the first DARWIN home – attended by our brand ambassador, News Corp journalists and Nine News – was a key moment to capture content and localise the story. 

Today, Delos is a key part of the Bastion family, with one of our staff members seconded into the Australian Delos team to drive marketing. Meanwhile, the rest of our team Delos continue to foster the strong bonds forged with media, cement the right partnerships to drive brand awareness, activate sponsorships and foster industry support.

THE

BRIEF

For nearly 150 years, Blundstone has been known as a tradie boot in Australia. Overseas though, it is considered a cult streetwear product and its lifestyle sales are booming. At home the brand needed to redefine itself.

To help create demand with fashion and lifestyle retailers and consumers, we needed to drive a new wave of currency for Blundstone. We know fashion trends start from those cultural tastemakers in the know and expand from their circles of influence.

THE

SOLUTION

We created a unique, ROI driven influencer program for Blundstone that aims to build social goodwill, authentic relationships and endorsements across fashion, music, arts, outdoors, food and surfing circles.

We did this by establishing the Blundstone Family, a group of influencers with authentic and genuine enthusiasm for the brand’s boots. Instead of a commercial relationship, we sent our family members on experiences that fit Blundstone’s positioning ‘Everywhere Life Takes Me’ where they’d capture content as they enjoyed life in their boots.

From collaborations to content to social posts and everything in between, the result has been phenomenal. Blundstone is now the boot of choice for every occasion.

“Bastion have helped find the right people to connect with us, the right partnerships and to do that they have had to understand us deeply as a business.” – Adam Blake, Blundstone Global Head of Brand, Design and Consumer Engagement.