Wally Lewis.
SportsPick urges Queenslanders to honour ‘The Real King’s Birthday’ and swap this Monday’s King’s Birthday public holiday on October 7 for NRL legend Wally Lewis’ birthday in December.
Workers are bring encouraged to take advantage of their ability to request to substitute a public holiday for another day to celebrate Lewis, whose legacy resonates with pride and passion throughout the state, perhaps even more than King Charles III.
In a unique campaign developed by Enigma, Queenslanders wishing to swap October 7 for ‘The Real King’s Birthday’ can go online and generate a pre-populated email to send their boss.
This campaign leverages underused public holiday substitution entitlements and is being led by in-venue live sports companion SportsPick, with support from rugby league icon Cameron Smith.
Enigma creative director Matthew Dawe said celebrating on October 7 just didn’t sit right.
“First, King Charles decided not to visit Queensland during his royal tour. And then he expects the state to take a day off and celebrate his birthday on a day that’s not even his birthday,” he said.
“So, we figured, let’s give the day off to someone who truly deserves it – Wally Lewis, the real king of Queensland. He’s given us more reasons to celebrate than any distant royal, and it’s about time we made it official.”
SportsPick spokesperson and managing director of entain venues Mark Sturdy, said he’s loving how much excitement this campaign has generated.
“Swapping the King’s Birthday for Wally’s has clearly resonated with Queenslanders,” he said.
“We’ve already heard HR departments are feeling the pressure with all the requests, so we’re sorry about that. But what better reason for the extra admin than celebrating the real King of Queensland?”
‘The Real King's Birthday’ long weekend will be celebrated from Saturday, November 30 until Monday, December 2.
A number of SportsPick venues will be transformed into “official King's Birthday party venues”, to celebrate Lewis all weekend long.
‘King’ Wally Lewis admitted he was caught by surprise when the initiative was first brought to his attention.
“To be honest, when I first heard about the SportsPick campaign I thought it was Gene Miles playing another one of his pranks on me,” Lewis said.
“To know that many Queenslanders are acknowledging me by asking their bosses to swap the public holiday next Monday to celebrate my birthday is very humbling.
“I’ve had many great birthdays over the years but this one certainly takes the cake.”
Credits:
Creative, Digital and PR agency: Enigma
Client: SportsPick (an Entain Group brand)
