This entry is worthy of the Branded Content and Entertainment Crocodile because it exemplifies authentic, culturally resonant brand integration. Proper No. Twelve whiskey leveraged strategic partnerships with the globally influential podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Australia’s leading MMA platform, Eternal MMA, creating engaging branded content that naturally connected with adventurous, authenticity-driven consumers. Through seamless integration into culturally relevant entertainment formats, Proper No. Twelve established deep emotional resonance and meaningful audience engagement. This approach delivered measurable results, significantly outperforming traditional advertising, clearly demonstrating the strength of our strategic entertainment partnerships to deliver exceptional brand lift, recall, and commercial success.
Challenge, Context, and Objectives
The Australian spirits market is intensely competitive, dominated by established Irish whiskey brands like Jameson and Bushmills. Proper No. Twelve, as a premium challenger brand, faced significant pressure in a constrained economic environment, where consumer spending on discretionary items required stronger emotional and cultural resonance to convert awareness into preference.
Our primary objective was to authentically position Proper No. Twelve as the whiskey of choice among bold, adventurous drinkers aged 18–34. This demographic is highly selective, preferring brands that genuinely align with their values of resilience and authenticity. Recognising that competitors were investing heavily in broad, generic campaigns, Proper No. Twelve aimed to strategically integrate the brand within entertainment formats deeply relevant to our audience.
Our solution was partnering with entertainment powerhouses: The Joe Rogan Experience—with its massive global audience and conversational credibility—and Eternal MMA, tapping into Australia’s passionate MMA community, creating authentic brand integrations that would emotionally resonate and drive measurable outcomes.
Insights and Strategy
Our strategic insight revealed young whiskey drinkers actively seek authentic, culturally relevant experiences rather than traditional advertising. Their lifestyle choices are heavily influenced by trusted, conversational content and communities that reflect their values of authenticity and boldness.
The Joe Rogan Experience emerged as the ideal entertainment platform. With millions of engaged global listeners and an influential, authentic conversational style, Rogan naturally aligned with Proper No. Twelve’s ethos. Through carefully curated, four-week-long live-read integrations, we seamlessly embedded Proper No. Twelve into Rogan’s authentic conversations, positioning the brand organically within content the audience genuinely valued.
Complementing this, Eternal MMA’s partnership provided continuous brand exposure at pivotal moments across key entertainment platforms, including UFC Fight Pass and ESPN. MMA fans represent a community deeply connected through shared values of resilience and boldness—attributes embodied by Proper No. Twelve. Our strategy integrated the brand authentically within the MMA ecosystem through high-profile live event visibility, strategic sponsorship placements such as Foxtel’s popular ‘Smooth Move’ segments, and timely social activations on Snapchat during major UFC events.
These dual strategic integrations enabled Proper No. Twelve to meaningfully resonate with our audience, transforming passive brand awareness into active emotional connection. By leveraging culturally influential entertainment formats and personalities, we effectively embedded Proper No. Twelve into the lifestyles of our target consumers, strategically converting genuine engagement into measurable sales outcomes.
Execution and Audience Engagement
Our execution strategy brought Proper No. Twelve to life through two powerful entertainment integrations, designed for seamless authenticity and maximum cultural relevance.
With The Joe Rogan Experience, we delivered branded content through carefully curated live-read integrations over a four-week period. Each segment positioned Proper No. Twelve naturally within Rogan’s conversations, effectively becoming part of authentic storytelling rather than interruptive advertising. Rogan’s credibility and conversational style enhanced audience engagement, driving immediate brand relevance among millions of listeners.
Simultaneously, our Eternal MMA partnership secured continuous brand integration within Australia’s MMA community. Proper No. Twelve gained prominent visibility during live events, UFC Fight Pass and ESPN broadcasts, and strategic segments such as Foxtel’s MMA-focused ‘Smooth Move’ spots. This consistent visibility amplified our relevance within the MMA community’s culturally charged, high-energy moments, strategically positioning Proper No. Twelve at the heart of key social occasions.
To amplify reach and audience engagement further, targeted Snapchat activations coincided with major UFC events. This precise timing capitalised on peak passion points within our audience, significantly enhancing emotional resonance and brand affinity.
These branded content executions surpassed industry benchmarks, generating substantial audience engagement: 3 million impressions, 83,000 video views, and over 1,700 direct interactions. Our execution approach ensured Proper No. Twelve authentically integrated into our audience’s cultural landscape, translating genuine connections into measurable, sustained brand loyalty.
Results and Impact
The Proper No. Twelve branded content partnerships delivered exceptional measurable impact, significantly exceeding our campaign objectives and industry benchmarks.
Our Eternal MMA integration achieved remarkable sales growth, directly driving a 149% year-on-year increase in the 1L SKU sales (August 2023 vs. August 2024). Concurrently, branded integrations with The Joe Rogan Experience significantly influenced overall brand performance, contributing directly to a 20% total sales uplift in August 2024.
Audience analytics further validated the effectiveness of our targeted branded content strategy. 88% of Rogan’s substantial listener base was male, with 41% precisely matching Proper No. Twelve’s key demographic (25–34 years). Such alignment confirmed our strategic precision in selecting entertainment platforms that authentically resonated with our audience’s values and preferences.
Critically, these outcomes were achieved organically, without reliance on traditional discounting or promotional incentives, proving the genuine impact of our branded entertainment content approach. Audience engagement metrics reinforced this impact clearly: the campaign’s branded content generated 3 million total impressions across platforms, achieved 83,000 video views, and over 1,700 direct audience interactions. This confirmed not only broad reach but deep emotional resonance and active consumer engagement.
These powerful results have positively influenced Proper No. Twelve’s future strategy, with both branded content partnerships now core components of ongoing marketing initiatives. This clearly demonstrates the significant, long-term strategic value created by culturally resonant entertainment integrations.
In summary, by strategically aligning Proper No. Twelve with influential entertainment platforms, we transformed brand storytelling into genuine cultural experiences. This approach achieved substantial, quantifiable business outcomes, demonstrating the enduring power of authentic branded content and entertainment to deliver exceptional engagement, strong brand recall, and sustainable commercial growth.
Thank you…