• Ad Age, Wednesday, August 23, 2006 12:45 PM

Fosters, the Australian beer,is bringing new meaning to the term action figures. The brewer has a new promotion that involves a talking figurine of cricket legend David Boon equipped with 32 phrases. Many are connected to the beer marketer's sponsorship of the 2006 cricket season in Australia. The figurines, designed to stand on their own or sit atop a can of beer, were given away when a consumer purchased two cases of Foster's. The can-topping talker is programmed to comment on cricket action, spurred on by encoded signals embedded in the broadcast. Phrases uttered by the toy include "Show us a replay of that," "When are we going to the pub?" and "I'll drink to that." The talking Boonys were also equipped with timed sayings that offered a code word of the day--bat, for example, which viewers could text to win an SUV, a trip or a cricket jersey. Foster's used point-of-sale materials to promote the figurine. It kicked off the promotion with a series of TV and radio spots that established the legend of Boon.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »