A pool, a billboard, an inflatable boat and bright orange Speedos: The PoolHouse owns pool culture in new campaign via Crave Global

Award-winning creative agency Crave Global is once again making a splash with its out-of-the-box approach to capturing public attention.

Out-of-the-box and onto a billboard. Crave recently launched a unique pool campaign leveraging popular breakfast broadcaster, Sam Wallace’s dream for a pool with a challenge for him to deliver PR value in kind to make his #PoolLife come true.  Kicking off with Sam strapped to a Lumo’s Kingsland billboard for three hours during peak Auckland traffic with one goal, to sell a pool. Clad in orange speedos, his release was at the mercy of the public. Then, inspired by our audience engagement, later this month, dressed in his eye-watering orange PoolHouse swimwear, Sam will row out to Rangitoto Island on an inflatable boat to raise funds for a charity chosen by New Zealand.

The PoolHouse managing director and owner, Chris Connors says: “Following on from our successful brand launch last year, we wanted to create work that continued to push the boundaries of conventional pool category advertising, be disruptive and squarely aligned The PoolHouse with pool culture in New Zealand.

“We wanted there to be something in it for the public as well as showcase our simple pool install process to demystify any thoughts that getting a pool installed could be difficult.”

Says Daniel Hopkirk, managing director, Crave Global: “Our core aim for the brand is to create a community around The PoolHouse and continue to build a movement around pool culture for this thriving brand. It’s fantastic to see a brand that wants to push the boundaries of how you can get an unfair share of attention, whilst still delivering key product messages interestingly and in a fresh way.

“Sam Wallace was the perfect partner for this work, as he has an outgoing personality, has a highly engaged following and is up for a challenge.  We liked the flexibility to tap into a omni channel approach through Sams socials, The PoolHouse social media, radio partnership, and outdoor.”

The campaign started when Sam made it glaringly obvious to the team at The PoolHouse (a leading seller and installer of superior fibreglass pools) that he was yearning for a pool.

Sam must earn the pool by doing three stunts created by the public – one to unlock each phase of The PoolHouse Installation process. The billboard came first.

The message on the PoolHouse Instagram page encourages the public to come up with “wild pool-related challenges” for Sam.

Think big. Is he hosting the biggest water balloon fight in NZ? Could he show up at Parliament in bright orange speedos? Or should he go head-to-head with Richie McCaw in a game of pool rugby? Think up some hilarious challenges for Sam to complete. Follow @breakfastsam and @nzpoolhouse on Instagram and be part of it. We can’t wait to see the creative genius you come up with.

The billboard unlocked the Design Phase of his pool installation. The Rangitoto row will unlock the Consent Phase followed by the Installation Phases later this year. The third stunt is yet to be revealed once the public have their say.

Once Sam was up on the billboard, the team leveraged that attention to launch the second phase of the campaign, the opportunity for the public to win a pool. This has quickly gone viral with over 8000 entries, and 45,000 engagements to date.

The twelve-month-long campaign evolves and is a fresh way of utilising brand ambassadors to create mutual value for the business and the ambassador.