It’s Australia’s AFL and NRL finals fortnight, resurrecting one of fandom’s most enduring challenges. Every year, thousands of footy fans undertake the same perilous walk from the food outlet back to their seat, attempting to balance hot pies, drinks, phones and sauce sachets through packed concourses and crowded aisles.
This year, TBWA\Australia and Eleven have solved the problem for Four’N Twenty pies – The Pie Scarf. The limited-edition accessory from TBWA\Australia and Eleven gives dedicated footy fans a hands-free way to carry their pies (and maybe other things) while navigating the packed aisles during half time or arguing with questionable umpiring decisions.
The Pie Scarf is custom-made by local Coburg supplier, Geccu. The design features two built-in pie pockets made to hold Four’N Twenty pies to keep your hands free.
Comedian Brett Blake unveiled the invention through a social campaign that celebrated the glorious over-engineering of a very Australian problem, and a limited run of Pie Scarves was produced and seeded to media, creators and footy fans.
Anand Surujpal, Patties Food Group chief marketing and growth officer, stated, “For decades, we’ve been part of people’s footy rituals, so we loved the idea of taking a universal game-day experience and turning it into something unexpectedly useful. The Pie Scarf was equal parts practical and ridiculous, which is exactly why people responded to it. It felt like something that genuinely belonged in the crowd on Grand Final day.”
Matt Stoddart, executive creative officer at TBWA Australia, added, “Australians have a strange habit of applying incredible ingenuity to very specific problems, and this felt like one of those opportunities. The more we talked about it, the more we realised there really wasn’t a better way to carry pies at the footy. Now everyone’s hands are free to focus on the drinks tray and give gestures for questionable umpiring decisions.”
The campaign was supported by earned media and social content, with fans invited to sign up and register their interest in future Pie Scarf drops through the Four’N Twenty merchandise store.
Credits:
Client: Patties Food Group [Four’N Twenty]
Agency: TBWA Australia and Eleven
Executive Creative Officer: Matt Stoddart
Creatives: Mads Catanese & Izzi McGrath
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