From Vodka with Love
In Australia, two competing vodka brands are joining forces to champion same-sex love.
Australia is currently in the midst of a public debate on whether the Marriage Act passed in 1961 should be amended to allow same-sex couples to marry. The Australian population can vote by letter until November 15 - but the result is not binding. However, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised to legalize home marriage if a majority of the population votes in favour.
The concern not only has the largest demonstration The Skyy Vodka brand provoked the most important campaign for lesbian and gay rights in Australia's history, but also a close alliance between two high-proof competitors: Skyy Vodka and Absolut Vodka. TBWA\Sidney and the in-house PR agency Eleven unite the two brands under the slogan "The Skyy's the limit when we have Absolut equality."
The subject was distributed via the social channels of both companies and received almost nothing but love in response - apart from a few angry smileys.
It is rare for competitors to join forces for campaigns. Sometimes the willingness is one-sided. Like the fast food chain Burger King, for example, which wanted to launch the McWhooper together with arch-enemy McDonald's for World Peace Day and donate the proceeds to a peace organization. McDonald's refused. Burger King earned a lot of public sympathy and created the mixed burger together with four other (much less well-known) competitors.
It has even happened that a brand has voluntarily advertised for its competitors. In Mozambique, DDB Maputo and the country's best-known condom manufacturer Jeita fought against the omnipresent HIV virus last year with a print motif. The poster depicts a total of eleven condoms from different manufacturers. "Use one of them. Our biggest rival is HIV," reads the text. In Mozambique, eleven percent of adults between the ages of 15 and 49 are HIV-positive and only three percent of the population is over the age of 65. (hae)
