NRL Magic Round brings the rugby league world together in Brisbane, creating an enormous live, broadcast and cultural audience, but also one of the most competitive environments of the year for brands chasing attention.
Bundaberg Rum needed to launch its newest product, Drop Bear Spicy Pineapple, in a way that could stand out amongst the noise, encourage product trial and bring the brand’s mischievous personality to life for Heartland consumers and NRL fans.
With rugby league legend Johnathan Thurston, iconic mascot Bundy R. Bear, the ingredients were there. The challenge was turning them into a moment big enough to own the occasion and distinctive enough to become a story well beyond the stadium.
Strategy: Make the Drop Bear Actually Drop
The creative started with one of Australia’s favourite inside jokes. For generations, Australians have convinced unsuspecting visitors to look up for the mythical Drop Bear.
So, to launch a product called Drop Bear, Havas Red decided to make one actually drop.
Drop In Drop Bear turned the product name into a physical spectacle, designed from the outset to work simultaneously as a live stadium moment, social-first content asset and earned-media story.
It also brought the new Drop Bear drinking ritual, “Look Up. Drop ’Em Down.”, directly into the campaign experience.
By tapping Bundaberg Rum’s NRL partnership and using Magic Round as the stage for its biggest new-product moment, the campaign was deliberately designed to reach fans both inside Suncorp Stadium and well beyond it.
Creative Execution: The Drop In
The launch began 13,000 feet above , working with specialist skydivers to capture Bundy R. Bear free-falling through the sky carrying a custom Magic Round match ball – the first leg of an audacious delivery to rugby league legend Johnathan Thurston.
The journey was filmed across multiple stages, pre-dive, in-flight, freefall and landing – before a second rapid-turnaround shoot with Johnathan Thurston completed the story ahead of its live stadium premiere.
As the cinematic sequence reached its climax on Suncorp Stadium’s screens, the action moved from film to real life. Bundy R. Bear appeared live alongside Johnathan Thurston, Bundy’s official “Drop Bear-ologist”, and the pair delivered the match ball to kick off the Magic Round weekend.
From there, the idea spread throughout Brisbane. Bundy R. Bear hit Caxton Street, Bundy Bay and the wider Magic Round precinct, surprising fans, handing out Drop Bear shots and appearing in spontaneous social moments. Havas Red captured 45 hours of raw footage and delivered 47 edited videos and photographs across the weekend, creating an extensive bank of content for the brand.
A sold-out Hello Sport live podcast at Lefty’s Music Hall extended the experience onto Caxton Street, integrating Cooper Johns, a live “Look Up and Drop ’Em Down” ritual and Bundy branding throughout the show. All 150 tickets sold in just 20 minutes.
The stunt became the anchor for an integrated earned, influencer, social, content and media campaign, turning one audacious Magic Round moment into reach far beyond Suncorp Stadium.
36.5M+ overall opportunities to see across earned media, talent, social and media partnerships
25M+ earned media reach – more than 4x the campaign KPI
33 pieces of earned coverage across broadcast, print and online
94% visual asset inclusion across earned coverage, keeping the stunt and Bundy R. Bear central to the story
11.5M+ total social reach – more than 2x the 5M campaign target
3.42M social OTS from Johnathan Thurston, with a 2% engagement rate and more than $10,000 in additional talent value
10.9M combined talent social OTS – 6.53M from paid talent and 4.37M from contra talent
146% additional value delivered through organic content from paid talent
633,777 reach through the Time Out partnership across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, driving 504 direct link clicks from seven pieces of content
45 organic social pieces generated versus a target of just 8-10
Creator collaborations also drove performance on Bundaberg Rum’s owned channels, with three of the brand’s four best-performing Instagram posts coming from influencer collaborations and the account gaining almost 1,500 new followers in May.
Turning an Aussie Myth into a Brand Moment
Drop In Drop Bear transformed a new-product announcement into something fans could witness, share and talk about. Rather than simply placing Bundaberg Rum inside Magic Round, we created a moment that belonged to it, combining Australian humour, NRL culture and a genuinely unexpected spectacle to introduce the new Bundaberg Rum product.
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