‘25 Years of Beers’ campaign
To celebrate Holgate’s 25th Anniversary in 2024, we released 25 limited release beers, plus ran a nationwide PR campaign with press, events, tap takeovers, collaborations with other breweries, and other celebrations.
Vocalist / Actor / Performer
Lucy Watson starred as Scaramouche in We Will Rock You (2022), Donna in Mamma Mia! (2022) and Assistant Directed and played Addaperle in The Wiz (2023) (all with Kyneton Theatre Company), and has been singing around the Macedon Ranges with The Sunsets for the past few years.
She has also sung and MC’d at the Romsey Carols (2022, 2023), and performed at Lancefield Market, with Safe Space and at other local gigs and productions.
Lucy was cast in the Melbourne Uni Comedy Review in first-year uni and subsequently spent over a decade writing, producing and performing comedy, including several sketch, musical and stand-up shows in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Melbourne Fringe, Adelaide Fringe and Camden Fringe (UK), and performing musical stand-up in Melbourne and London (at 1 min 03 in clip).
Also a trained actor (National Theatre Drama, VCA Summer School), over the years Lucy played both Helena and Tom Snout in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Verges in Much Ado About Nothing, Griselda/Win in Top Girls, Meg in Away, Ayre in The Golden Age, Dotty in Noises Off, Alison in The Breakfast Club and Chloe in Arcadia. She has also worked in radio, film and TV, and played in bands.
They Just Keep Moving The Line @ Kyneton Theatre Company Cabaret Night (Aug ‘24)
Lucy Watson performing They Just Keep Moving The Line from the TV series (and upcoming Broadway musical) Smash.
Gig @ Vic Hotel (Mar ‘24)
Lucy Watson performing her full set of five songs as part of the Sunset Series - Moonlight Music, 8 Mar 2024 at the Victoria Hotel, Woodend (in the Macedon Ranges).
Songs:
The Way You Look Tonight
The Only Exception (Paramore)
A New Life (Jekyll & Hyde)
Listen (Dreamgirls)
One More Try (George Michael - version Brenna Whitaker)
We Will Rock You - KTC
Lucy Watson played Scaramouche in the Kyneton Theatre Company production of We Will Rock You in October 2022.
Gig @ Vic Hotel (Aug ‘23)
Lucy Watson performing her full set of five songs as part of the Sunset Series - Moonlight Music, 8 Mar 2024 at the Victoria Hotel, Woodend (in the Macedon Ranges).
Sunday Morning (Maroon 5)
The Last Time (Eric Benet)
The Sea (Corinne Bailey Rae)
Song For You (Donny Hathaway)
Creep (Radiohead - Postmodern Jukebox version)
Gig @ Wine Collective (Jun ‘22)
Lucy Watson performing At Last, Natural Woman and Someone to Watch Over Me as part of the Sunset Series - June, 2022 at The Wine Collective in the Macedon Ranges.
Gig @ Malmsbury Hotel (Mar ‘23)
Lucy Watson performing her full set of five songs as part of the Sunset Series - Autumn Lunch, 19 Mar 2023 at the Malmsbury Hotel (in the Macedon Ranges).
For Once In My Life (Nancy Wilson version)
Til It Happens To You (Corinne Bailey Rae)
One For My Baby (Bette Midler version)
Sunday Kind of Love (Etta James)
Lover, You Should Have Come Over (Jeff Buckley - Jamie Cullum version)
Explore Beer campaign
With two great winter beers coming your way and a new core range can design, there's lots on the horizon for Holgate.
So to launch it all, I put together an 'Explore Beer' campaign, celebrating the adventurous, pioneering spirit of Holgate, its beautiful Central Vic location, and of course, our beers!
Running across TV, cinema, digital, social and outdoor, the campaign includes a brand video, photos, outdoor billboards, in-venue POS and more.
Preston Neighbourhood Guide
(Time Out)
I was commissioned by Time Out to write their Preston Neighbourhood Guide.
Twin Suns XPA
I came up with the concept, wrote the copy and managed the marketing campaign for Holgate’s Twin Suns XPA - a part of our limited release collection.
Holgate Crowdfunding
(Aug 2019)
As a marketing consultant, I helped Holgate manage a crowdfunding campaign from conception to launch, including the production (scripting, filming, editing) of a 2 minute brand video, encapsulating the essence of the business and what the crowdfund money will go to.
This campaign has been rolled out across social media, outdoor, in-venue events and digital. It has been paired with a simple product outdoor campaign (street posters) to keep the brand front-of-mind for consumers.
Make Mo’ Mate Time
(Movember 2018)
As part of our annual nationwide Movember campaign (raising funds and awareness to tackle men’s health issues - and donating $75K to Movember) I co-produced this film with Lutman Films encouraging people to ‘Make Mo’ Mate Time’. This became the cornerstone and emotional heart of a broader campaign asking people in bottleshops and venues all over Australia to ‘Grab a Gipps St’ to show their support. This campaign was hugely successful, increasing our market share / sales across Australia.
I coordinated the entire campaign which ran across social, in-store and venue point-of-sale and outdoor.
Stomping Ground
Can Launches
In my time at Stomping Ground I launched more than a dozen cans, including 7 core beers. For each can launch I managed label design and creation, launch marketing strategy (digital, social, outdoor and in-store), wrote all can copy / tasting notes, press releases, social copy, and managed PR.
Pridelweiss
Raising funds for Midsumma Futures (a program supporting LGBTQI+ artists) we needed can copy which spoke to the message of the beer (in the lead up to the Marriage Equality vote) but was subtle and genuine.
Laughing Matter
A beer brewed for an upcoming pop-up bar during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, I needed to come up with a name that would evoke comedy, but also work with the can concept of different ‘laughter styles’. I then had to write all the supporting copy tying the ideas all together.
Orange Mocha Frappuccino
For our GABS beer in 2018 we decided to make an Orange Mocha Frappuccino Nitro Cream Ale, and we crafted all our marketing to lean into the Zoolander reference. I wrote all the promotional copy, wrote the shoot plan for the video above (matching the original shot for shot), and even arranged for a comedian to record a new version of ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’.
Smash Campaign
When we found our Smash series of beers was becoming popular with non-traditional beer drinkers we wanted to come up with a campaign which enticed wine and cider drinkers, but didn’t put off beer drinkers. I wrote the headline and devised the campaign image with the ice evoking a freshness which was not too fruity.
Historical Novel
I have been working on an historical novel for a few years now - and the manuscript is finally finished!
Read the synopsis and an excerpt below:
Finch’s Gold
Synopsis
In the dark streets of 1850s East London, street-smart Oscar Finch dreams of finding his fortune on the goldfields of Australia. His bookish older brother, Charlie Finch, longs to be a famous writer. After the death of their father leaves them in poverty, and their mother in a haze between heartbreak and madness, they are forced to care for their small brother Tommy, and find a way to survive. When Charlie meets Meg Fletcher, a young barmaid, he begins to reveal the secrets which lie in his family’s past and hope that he can find the warm home, filled with love, he has lost. But first, Charlie must go into the London demi-monde to make a name for himself as a writer. Meg, seeking adventure, goes with him, befriends courtesans, social misfits and bon vivants, and is pursued by the handsome, roguish Lord John Dudley, who is intent on making her his mistress. Oscar is threatened by his brother’s growing fame and more determined to leave than ever when Charlie uncovers a crime which risks not just his future, but the lives of all those he loves. As tragedy and misfortune strike, the brothers must flee London for an uncertain future in Australia.
It is a story of poverty, jealousy, family and greed. Of love found, and love lost. Of dreams and hope, and the eternal search for gold.
Movember 2017
My first major campaign at Stomping Ground, it involved nationwide promotion on social media, supported by in-venue signage and activations, PR and outdoor. As a centrepiece for the campaign I produced and edited a couple of comedy videos to drive awareness (above and below), with other social in the consideration and conversion phase talking to the beer (Gipps St. Pale Ale) which was soon-to-be-released as the first product in can, but at the time was on tap at venues all over Australia.
The campaign was a huge success, raising $75,000 for Movember and vastly increasing brand awareness - especially in Melbourne with our first run of street posters and big in-venue presence.
The Daily Habit of Successful People
A finalist in the global INMA Awards for Best Brand Awareness campaign, ‘The Daily Habit of Successful People’ was a $1m campaign for The Australian Financial Review, which ran across OOH, digital, social and press. The strategy was to reach prospective AFR readers by their pillar of interest (Finance, Business, Innovation, Politics) and target them with a specific, relevant message throughout the day, across multiple platforms
I was the campaign manager across this entire project and was responsible for delivering 300 assets across 15 channels, in 25 targeted locations, in 3 cities. I worked with an agency to create 55 different targeted headlines, talking directly to our potential audience at specific times of day.
During this campaign I:
Wrote the brief and strategy documentation
Wrote and curated headlines, digital and social copy, and press ads
Managed delivery of assets across multiple platforms and agencies
Managed successful and timely delivery of the campaign
Managed budget and timelines
Managed stakeholders, including Fairfax senior management
In Batmania
In Batmania (now By The Nylex) is an online magazine I created, edited and have been a primary contributor to since 2014. It is a collection of stories, musings, reviews and mind thoughts from assorted Melbourne writers, comedians, and thinkers.
It was always intended to be a safe, supportive space for our community to share their thoughts, but we had several posts go globally viral, including Stubble in Paradise which reached over 21K readers, and Taxis, Ubers and the Bitter Pill (which I wrote) which reached 63K readers across 128 countries.
Life is Epic
Life is Epic was a junior brand of the Albumworks Photo Book company, designed to tap into the youth / Instagram market.
Brand ethos:
At Life is Epic we believe in life. We believe you should grab it with both hands. Take the plunge. Kick your shoes off. Dance in the rain.
We believe in making amazing memories – and capturing them. And not just on your phone. Or on Instagram. We want to make those awesome photos more than just pixels. We want to make them real. Make them gifts. Make them art.
And we want to help you do that as simply as possible. We want making epic products to be almost as much fun as making the memory. You can create epic products anywhere, anytime on any device. They’re the best quality, made with absolute care. And we’re even here to help, if you need it.
So what are you waiting for?
You have only one life. Make it epic.
I created this brand with an in-house designer, from scratch. I came up with the name, the look and feel, the strategy, and all the creative. I wrote all the copy, ran the social media advertising and community, created all the content, and produced the website.
The Robin Hood Investigation
In 2007 and 2008 I wrote, performed and produced a show called The Robin Hood Investigation in the Adelaide Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and at various venues in London, including the famous Hen & Chickens Theatre.
I produced all the content for the show, including stand-up, songs, and two original films videos shot on location in Nottingham. I also did all the marketing and PR.
Show blurb:
Lucy Watson wants answers. What the hell is with Robin Hood? He supposedly pranced around a forest 700 years ago in some green tights, and ever since he’s been the subject of countless songs, films, TV shows and lame Nottingham tourist attractions. But why? Did he even exist? And why do we still care? Lucy delves beneath the tights to unravel the truth: the man, the myth, the legend, the lie, the thief, the blatant tax evader. An irreverent and comic look at an English icon and complete media whore.
Reviews:
**** “A really good show… a gem!” – Funny Tonne
**** “Fascinating, and very funny.” Beat Magazine
Videos:
In Search of Robin Hood (in Nottingham)
How much to English people know about Medieval History?
The Vinyl Countdown
Back in 2005 I produced (and performed and was a writer for) The Vinyl Countdown, a show in the Melbourne Comedy Festival. We were the first comedy festival show to ever perform at Cherry Bar, and we had a sold out run. I was responsible for all the marketing of the show, devised the look and feel, coordinated the photo shoots, liaised with press and did the PR.
