For Ken: Celebrating Australia’s Oldest Man, Ken Weeks, In Partnership with Whiddon and Heinz
Michelle Ring
General Manager, Marketing & Communications
From the first whisper of the idea for Ken’s birthday, the Ardent team leaped into action, injecting big creative ideas and impressive strategy across all teams to bring this campaign to life. Not only was Ken’s campaign a huge success – it served as a joyous and meaningful moment for Ken, his family and friends.
Hand applied ‘Ken Cans’
Media Impressions
Media placements
The Opportunity
As an award-winning care provider, our partners at Whiddon believe relationships are at the heart of great care. They’re passionate about enriching lives and keeping older people connected and do so across rural, regional, and remote NSW and Southeast QLD.
Whiddon came to Ardent’s integrated PR & Creative team with one objective, create an unforgettable birthday celebration for Australia’s oldest living man and local Grafton resident, Kenneth (Ken) Weeks.
The Challenge
There was just one small question, what unique gift do you get for someone who has already celebrated an incredible 109 birthdays?
Our challenge was to hone in on the perfect birthday surprise and devise a comprehensive media strategy that would ensure an increase in Whiddon’s overall brand awareness.
With an established legacy of providing award-winning care to older Australians living in rural locations for the past 75 years, Whiddon’s presence was largely still at this local level.
Our Process
Our team of PR specialists set out to brainstorm the perfect surprise when the mention of Ken’s decades-long love affair with Heinz baked beans arose. Not surprisingly, Ken was not alone, with Australia the second largest consumer of Heinz baked beans in the world behind the UK.
Tapping into an insight into Ken’s lifelong love of an Australian breakfast staple, his status as an Australian icon, and Whiddon’s commitment to supporting regional Australia through award-winning care, a surprise partnership was born.
Ardent quickly sought the input of Heinz’s Australian-based marketing team to see if they may want to jump in on Ken’s big birthday surprise and help us achieve our objectives through a mutually beneficial strategic alignment between Whiddon and Heinz and an unforgettable 110th birthday for Ken!
With Heinz behind our surprise, and willing to craft 300 hand-applied personalised ‘Ken Cans’ and deliver them directly to Ken in Grafton, our media distribution efforts kicked off.
The Impact
The campaign set out to reach everyday Australians and make them question, “Can great care and a can of Heinz baked beans be the secret to a long and happy life?”
In leveraging the beloved Heinz brand through an organic, feel-good alignment Ardent successfully brought the Whiddon brand, and exceptional relationship-based care, into the spotlight. After all, how special a relationship is it to know and understand a resident’s passions to bring them a one-of-a-kind birthday gift?
The Results
The partnership generated more than 69 media placements, totalling 4.7 million impressions. A total of 87% of the media saturation occurred on Ken’s birthday and the day following, bookmarking this as a ‘viral’ partnership moment. We established ongoing relationships for the Whiddon and Heinz teams. So much so Heinz and Whiddon explored an option to create a further run of ‘Ken Cans’ to supply to the entire Whiddon community of over 3,000.
And finally, a very happy (albeit a little overwhelmed) Ken on his 110th Birthday!