The Castle Milk Stout Unplugged Talent Search campaign case study also came third in the Food and Beverage category at the awards, where the jury had the task of choosing from more than 2600 entries from around the globe.

Castle Milk Stout is one of the country’s beloved brands, and is targeted at adults who take the time to savour moments in life of real value. “Castle Milk Stout has long been a supporter of unplugged music and it is fantastic to win this award, which stamps authority on the campaign as a job well done,” said Julian Remba, Castle Milk Stout general manager.

In 2014, the brand launched “Unplugged”, a nationwide talent search for an unsigned vocalist, using Metro FM as the radio platform and the Castle Milk Stout website and social media as the digital platform. “The strategy was to drive understanding about what the brand stands for and to involve and engage the audience through voting for their favourites,” said Remba.

The winner, Itu Tshbane, recorded a six-track demo album and won R20 000 in cash. During the campaign, listeners who voted for their favourite vocalists could also win cash prizes, which drove interaction with the target audience.

“Overall, 2487 demo tracks were received. The brand’s Facebook fan base grew by 10 196 during the competition, and a Mxit app attracted 93 911 followers. Website traffic spiked at 39 285 page views in the first month of the competition, and averaged more than 14 000 per month thereafter, as fans viewed the contestants’ profiles and read about them. Contestant videos on YouTube got nearly 15 000 views and audio tracks on SoundCloud were played nearly 4000 times,” said Melissa Carney, digital operations manager at MetropolitanRepublic.

The award is testament to the work of the Castle Milk Stout Brand Team and their agencies, Corporate Image and Metropolitan Republic, who pulled out all the stops to make this campaign successful and memorable, and true to the brand’s values.

For more information, visit www.metropolitanrepublic.com. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.