Subaru x G.I. Joe - Do Something Out Of The Box

Subaru wanted to create a campaign to promote their all-new groundbreaking performance car. The turbo charged Subaru Levorg was to be positioned as a brilliant combination of power and practicality, and they needed the marketing campaign to reflect that.

Born Licensing reached out to Hasbro, the Rights Holders of G.I. Joe to discuss the creative direction and commercial terms. In parallel, we developed a list of other action figures that would be suitable should the G.I. Joe option not materialise.

Subaru’s creative agency Disciple Sydney called on us to help them license a well-known and instantly recognisable action figure for their ‘out of the box’ script. They had their eyes set on Hasbro’s G.I. Joe, or another collector toy known to be kept in its packaging. Our job was to help them explore the feasibility of G.I. Joe as well as creating a shortlist of other back up options.

We worked with Hasbro on both the creative and commercial terms which resulted in them agreeing to proceed with G.I. Joe as the action figure. As Born Licensing are licensing agents for Hasbro we negotiated the licensing commercial terms and managed all other aspects of the project from start to finish without charging any clearance fees. We are able to do this thanks to our unique business model and strong appointed agency relationship with Hasbro.

Hasbro, the Rights Holders of G.I. Joe, required all creative material to be submitted throughout to ensure they were comfortable with how the action figure would be featured. This included the script, storyboards, still poses, edits and final material. We spent time working with the Hasbro team to provide G.I. Joe action figures for the shoot that were sent in from the US. Born Licensing managed the entire approval process from start to finish, allowing all other parties to focus on what they do best.

The campaign consisted of a 45 second film plus cutdowns, 7 product videos, outdoor and print advertising, social media, sponsorship activations and dealership branding. As a result, Subaru Levorg became the #1 selling wagon across Australia!

Born Licensing managed the licensing of G.I. Joe in this new Subaru campaign and did not charge Disciple or Subaru any clearance fees. Thanks to our unique business model and strong relationships with the Licensors of these characters, we were able to provide a full service without any additional overhead, saving money from the budget and helping make the job feasible.