Our second hack event merged the world of politics with the biscuit industry and culminated in the Biscuit Elections. A unique fusion, but a fun one!
Staff across the design and web agency collaborated towards the task, titled ‘Sway’ which aimed to hack the elections and formed the basis of our annual staff training day. Staff were split into five teams, all mixed from across the creative studio, account management and digital teams, with each team holding four to five bigwavers.
Each team represented a biscuit party and the premise was to create a campaign to sway the electorate and get their biscuit to the top of the polls. The parties needed to create a campaign concept in the medium of their choice (billboard, poster, party political broadcast, social media, pamphlet etc.), focussing on a set demographic and outlining the core proposition. As part of the task the parties had to present back their concept to all staff and the judging panel, as well as take part in a hustings Q&A panel.
The end of the day was marked by an election where all staff voted for the party which swayed them the most (staff votes were for fun and didn’t count towards the overall scores).
- Here’s a round up of the parties and their campaigns:
The Rich Tea Party
Team members: Dan James, Wayne Morrish, Chris Fiddimore, Luke Simpson
Campaign tagline: The lord of Biscuits
In short: With a focus on traditions and values the Rich Tea party created an outdoor media campaign which was to be fronted by Terry Wogan, who famously (?!) said that Rich Tea biscuits were ‘The lord of Biscuits’.
The Ginger Nut Party
Team members: Luke Stone, Rosie King, Max Rogers, Nick Penny, Karlie Williams
Campaign tagline: Ginger is making a come back
In short: The ginger nuts led with a social media campaign that aimed to squarely put the Ginger Nut at the forefront of the biscuit aisle with a bold and risky campaign utilising famous ginger haired people. The core campaign included the use of memes to create a viral message.
The Bourbon Party
Team members: Dan Tofield, Emily, Rupert Bennett, Nick Stanbridge, Rebecca Cooper
Campaign tagline: Times may change but Bourbon’s don’t
The Malted Milk Party
Team members: Justin Peppin, Laurence Hawkins, Erika Smith, Sean Jermey
Campaign tagline: Go on, have a cheeky malt
In short: Malted milk identified key areas to focus on, the first being that malted milks can be a fun snack, often associated back to childhood. The second that malted milks can be a good source of calcium and low in calories and finally that as a manufacturer they would provide a fair deal to milk farmers, giving them a strong proposition in the crowded market place.
The Custard Cream Party
Team members: Kerry Albertyn, Laura Rogers, Aaron Brooks, Joseba Altuna
Campaign tagline: The biscuit that has stood the test of time
In short: Backed by over 100 years of heritage since it’s debut on the British marketplace, the Custard Creams lead squarely on tradition. The advertising campaign focused on iconic scenes and products from the past century that were identified to create an emotional association that hopefully carried said attributes across to the humble Custard Cream.
The results were in…
The judges voted on 3 key areas, each out of 10:
Presentation quality
Campaign concept
Hustings conduct
The five judge’s votes ended up with a three-way tie between the Bourbon party, the Malted Milk party and the Custard Cream party so, in the end, the final result went down to the staff election results which firmly placed the victors as:
The Malted Milk Party.
Each team member won a day of extra holiday for a well earned break from politics. Well done those Malted Milks!
Public vote
How would you have voted?
Considering the campaign concepts above we’d like to canvass your opinion.
To vote in the public vote please click here.
(There is no closing date)
Cup of tea and a biscuit
As you might imagine – we get through a lot of tea and biscuits. If you have a product of service you want to catapult into the limelight, a marketing campaign you need promoting or an audience you need to sway please contact us and arrange to pop in to our Exeter offices for a cuppa and a biscuit!
Alternatively, if you are interested in joining #TeamBigwave please check out our careers page.
Review the day’s events on Twitter or Facebook by searching: #BiscuitElections #BigwaveHack
You can read out about the 2014 Hack event here.