The Great Crusade wins Gold

Finch and Wonder Australia's 22 part comedy series The Great Crusade won Gold and Silver at the Australasian Branded Entertainment Awards in Sydney on Tuesday night.

 

The series won Gold in the Best Integration or Brand Storytelling - Fiction category and silver in the Best Brand-Commissioned category.

 

Starring Australian comedian Phil Lloyd and sponsored by Qantas and Tourism New Zealand, The Great Crusade is a digital interactive Rugby World Cup Fan tour, following the Australian Wallabies on their quest for the 2011 World Cup.

 

The tour is led by fictional fan Toby Withers, a former squash champion and sports journalist for Highly Strung Magazine, as his publication for 'non-tennis racquet sports' is set on broadening its horizons into rugby and television in time for New Zealand's Rugby World Cup.

 

Catch an episode of the series below:

 

 

The series pioneered new technology with its broadcast delivery system. Finch developed a discrete compression and file transfer system using an array of 3G modems in order to broadcast daily episodes from remote parts of New Zealand where satellite and swish access are not readily available.

 

The series was created by Glen Condie and Gregor Jordan, who share the writer’s credits with show runners Nathan Earl and Phil Lloyd who also hosted the awards ceremony which was a culmination of the Festival of Branded Entertainment.