Outdoor ad: The Sun / Olympics: WHERE THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU?

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Top 6: September 10th 2008

For the first time in decades the English got a higher medal tally at the Olympics than arch-rivals Australia. The Sun Newspaper in Britain were determined to gloat at the Aussies expense. Euro RSCG London contacted their Sydney office and asked them to prepare a provocative stunt to shame the Aussies in their hometown. The stunt had to be ready for Sunday 3pm AEST (Olympics end) so that it could be shot and the pics wired over to the paper for the Monday AM edition. Deliberately spoofing the Australian tourism catch-phrase, copywriter/art director Darren Cole (himself an ex-pat living in Sydney) taunted the Aussies with the line "Where the bloody hell were you?" on a mobile billboard (depicting the final medal tally) that was photographed at all of Sydney's landmarks. The stunt proved so popular that it featured prominently in TV, radio and online news bulletins around the world, and the photo itself took off as a viral image.