Learnings from Ned Australian Whisky

You're listening to podiatry marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald.

Welcome back to podiatry marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald, joined as always by my trusty sidekick and co host Tyson Franklin. Tyson, what are we gonna learn about Australian history today?

I like I like trusty sidekick. You made me sound like I'm I'm Robin and you're Batman.

Well, I gotta get back at you for calling me Big Jim in some ways. Right? So it's just a way for me to do a little gentle dig in there.

Big Jim and trusty sidekick, Batman. I mean, Robin. So what's funny, this episode is I think people when they listen to this one are either gonna go, that was really, really entertaining, educational, and I've taken a lot away from it. Or they're gonna say, this is one of those episodes I I could've gone past and not listened to it. But I'm thinking it's more the former way you you will take a lot away from this.

But first, if anyone listened to last week's episode, I said, for my next episode, I'm going to do it about Ned whiskey, which is an Australian whiskey because we got on the subject of Ned Kelly. And I said that, Jim, you need to go and do some study and figure out who Ned Kelly is, and and I'm gonna ask you some questions. So have you done your homework?

I've done a bit. I don't know if I'm hopefully, you're grading on a curve because I don't know if I'm gonna ace the exam or not, but, yeah, you can fire away at me.

Okay. First of all, who was Ned Kelly?

He was a a famous Australian bush ranger.

Okay. And and now you know what a bush ranger is?

Yeah. An outlaw, kind of a robber, a yeah. Kind of a, you know, Robin Hood type character, but not necessarily the same thing. But, yeah, just a an outlaw, scarf law, someone who's yeah. Bad guy bad guy in the eyes of some.

Yeah. It's it's quite funny, isn't it? He was an outlaw, and he did do the wrong thing. Yet, we hold him up as as a a bit of a as a bit of a a hero. And so do you know what happened to him in the end?

I think he I mean, he was he was he was killed by, like, the Australian, I don't know, like, police or or kind of authorities. I guess he, like, was drinking like, the the like, the circumstances surrounding his death are a little strange. I heard, like, that he had put together some kind of, like, metal armor, like, kind of almost like a an iron man type contraption with, like

Pretty much.

Metal on his head and a metal breastplate. And but then he he left off the fact they could shoot him in the legs, I guess. Like, he didn't think about putting armor on his legs, they shot him, and he died. That that's all I know about Ned Kelly's end.

Yeah. Well, actually, he was the original Iron Man. So he did. He he made a helmet out of really thick iron and had a a a breastplate, one on the back, I think, over the shoulders and that as well. So that when they were shooting at him, trying to shoot in the body and the head as you'd normally go for the kill shots, they just kept ricocheting off of him.

And eventually, they figured out, hang on. He's got nothing covering his legs. But they reckon the stuff that he was wearing was that heavy to try and move around, and it would have been ridiculous anyway. So he was with his gang. I think it's Glenrowan.

So I'm not a great historian either. But eventually, he got caught, got shot, got captured, and he was hung in in Melbourne Jail. Gone there four times. I actually just love the old Melbourne Jail. If anyone's in Melbourne, gotta go to old Melbourne Jail.

And, yeah, I've gone there four times and checked out where he got hung. And they've got a they got the death mask of him. After they used to hang him, they would do a a plaster cast of their face. It's very interesting. And the last thing he said do you know what the last thing he said that he is famous for just before they kill him?

Is he any final words?

I guess that's I don't know. Like like a very short kind of like that, I guess, that's it or something like that or was it I

don't know. Yeah. Such is life.

Yeah. Yeah. C'est la vie.

Yeah.

For the Americans in the audience, I definitely would kinda compare it to like a Jesse James type character. Right? It's like this kinda glorified, you know, person from the mid eighteen hundreds that lived in a kind of a different world than we live in now.

Yeah. Just it's it's one of those things that it's circumstances. One thing leads onto another. These days, if you're related to Ned Kelly in any way, it's sort of like a great thing, which leads us on to today's topic was about Ned Australian whiskey. And if you look up Ned Australian whiskey, you'll see that there's a a picture.

I'm not saying it is Ned Kelly, but I think it depicts Ned Kelly with the big bushy beard, and that's what the the whiskey is sort of all based around.

So the the Kelly's gonna come after them for, like, copyright infringement or making you know, I guess it's just Ned. It's not Ned Kelly whiskey, so maybe they don't feel like they have a claim to it.

Yeah. It what what's interesting about it is and how I came across it like, I've seen Ned whiskey around for a while, and I knew it it sort of depicted Ned Kelly. But what got on my radar and why I thought it was interesting to talk about was just recently, we have a a rugby league game in Australia. We have three games a year. It's called State of Origin.

It's the most vicious games of rugby league you'll ever see. Queensland versus New South Wales, state versus state, mate versus mate. That's how they advertise it. And these are just brutal games. I mean, they smash into each other.

Anyway and Queensland, of course, is the better state because that's where I'm from. Anyone from New South Wales already knows this. Course.

Of course.

Yeah. We're we're more passionate and all that. And and what New South Wales feel don't get is years ago, Queensland used to play New South Wales, but half the New South Wales team used to be Queenslanders that they brought from Queensland down there to play against their state, and they would beat us. So we got the shits. Eventually, state of origin came about, and that's where the whole passion and rivalry starts from.

Billy Moore was a particular football player that this one particular game, he's coming down the the walkway to go out in the field, and he started yelling at, Queenslander. Queenslander. And this just became the Queenslander crow when the players running out of the whole stadium just goes absolutely nuts. So Ned Whiskey came up with this idea that this year, they were selling whiskey, but they took a particular barrel and they put it in a shipping container. And for a thousand hours, they played Billy Moore screaming, Queenslander.

Queenslander. And it was released as the Queenslander edition whiskey. They made 500 bottles or 490 bottles. And by the time I got the email and I went on their website to get a bottle, it had already sold out. Now, a normal bottle is $59 to buy a bottle.

The Queenslander bottle was 89. I'm thinking, that is smart marketing.

For sure.

And then when you go on their website, they've got all these other bottles there that I didn't realize. And they have one called Sounds of Bathurst. And now, you have no idea what Bathurst is, do

Just a town in Australia. That's all I can guess.

It is a town, and they have a a car race there every year. And it's, like, most popular car race in Australia. And so what they did on these other barrels is they whoever won that race for the last few years, they had a a recording inside their car. They then play the race to this barrel of whiskey. And what they're saying is the vibrations from the microphone make the whiskey taste better, and then they release it as the sounds of bath thirst and has the the winning car driver on the on the bottle.

Once again, they sell it for more than they would normally sell. The whiskey for $59, they sell it for 89, a hundred and 19. I saw one bottle from one of the original races when they did it. It's like a hundred and $79 now.

It's pricey. That sounds like quite the the marketing cue there.

So the reason I bring it up is in podiatry, what are you currently doing that everybody else is doing, but you can do it slightly different and maybe charge more for it. Yeah. So the idea is just to think about what are you what are you already doing, and you can you repackage something? Can you remarket it a certain way and just make it different? And can and therefore, are you able to charge more for it?

Because it's now a little bit more unique. And I think that's all Ned's have really done with this particular whiskey. They've come up with something that was really just whiskey, and they've they've sort of taken a, like, a a unique sort of spin on it.

Yeah. For sure. I think that, you know, finding your way to differentiate yourself from competitors and having something that's, you know, kind of novel and unique is definitely appealing to to different folks. I'm just kinda curious, you know, in in your mind, what are some, you know, opportunities there in in the realm of podiatry that it might translate over to?

Oh, I was hoping you had some ideas, Jim. But no. Well, I I think back to something that we did not this is, you know, twenty something years ago, way before Ned's, was I was at a barbecue once, and when I was there, I was talking to someone that had a foot problem. I said, oh, maybe she's a podiatrist. And they went, oh, I saw a podiatrist.

I got those orthotic things made. They were crap. They didn't work. And I went, oh, did did you get them from my clinic? I know.

I got them from another podiatrist. You know, they're all the same. And I went, technically, I understand. He's thinking why he would think they're all the same, but they were you know, if I if I did my plaster cast and I made it myself or send it off to a lab, there were always gonna be things a little bit different. So we decided to give our orthotics a name.

So instead of being an orthotic from my podiatry clinic, we ended up calling them ProArch foot supports. And eventually, it got around that when I talked to someone, and then we changed the whole terminology in their business. We didn't call them orthotics. We called them foot supports or ProArch foot supports. And the only place you could get ProArch foot supports was from ProArch podiatry, which made sense.

Eventually, we'd be at barbecues and we'd be talking to someone, and they would say, oh, you know, I got myself a pair of Pro Arch foot supports. I had orthotics once before. I had those orthotic things that podiatrists made, but I ended up getting a pair of Pro Arch foot supports, they were so much better. They were still orthotics. It's just what we did was we gave them a name.

We created a brand around something that we were already doing but was competing against everybody else. But now, all of a sudden, we created something that was different to what everybody else was doing, perception wise, and because of that, we were able to change just that a little bit more.

Yeah. I like that idea. I think it's it's pretty novel to kinda put your own, you know, kinda create your own terminology around it. So, you know, it's it's it's a similar thing when you're naming a clinic or you're you're if you're naming something and you're kind of taking ownership of it, then you're able to, you know, not only hear it in the community, but sometimes people type those things into Google as well. Right?

Like, the name of your clinic as well. And I think another just listening to you talk about that also made me think about the interesting thing about the Ned whiskey thing is they took basically something that they knew a lot of people already liked. They liked that rugby match. They liked the the Bathurst car race, and then they then they combined it with their own product. And one opportunity I see that is pretty common in The US is that, like, every, you know, summer or fall before kind of the school season of sports starts, like, every kid has to get, like, a physical examination by a family care doctor or a sports medicine doctor.

So one idea for a podiatrist might be is that how about partnering with a family care doctor or a sports medicine doctor about getting, like, you know, a foot checkup or, you know, kind of foot screening. It might be an opportunity for you to get in front of those patients and, you know, taking something they're already gonna do, you know, not not exactly the same as the same as the sporting events that Ned whiskey was part of, but you know, something you a behavior and actually know that people are already gonna take. And if you pair your offering with it, you know, it it's it's one way to kind of, you know, maybe gain a little bit of traction in your practice. But I definitely like those two examples, you to kind of find some unique offerings or unique opportunities to kind of show value to patients or to different people.

Well, I've seen well, I've spoken to podiatrists and have said, do you have a wedding shop in you know, a wedding business in your area? And they're going, yes. Well, same thing. Why not partner up with them and just say, I have a podiatry clinic. We treat fungal nails.

Do you ever get people that, yeah, they've got the beautiful gown on, they've got their makeup done, and they've had make sure their teeth are white, and then they look down at the shoes, and they got these manky looking toenails that just look terrible. Is there something that where you can package something together? Because a lot of times too, they're looking at their wedding dress twelve months out from the wedding. So if they've got fungal toenails, for example, or just ugly looking feet, is there something you can do? You've got 12 before the wedding.

This is the type of thing or or partnership you could actually do. So it's the idea, like I said, with bringing up the Ned whiskey is they've done something unique, which is really, really simple and almost silly to a point, but it actually works. I know other podiatrists that have taken they used to say, buy in cream from different places, and they would sell their cream under the other people's brands. And I know some people that have approached the companies that make their creams and would you put my label on there? And they've gone, okay.

So they're selling the same cream but now with their label. And therefore, when the patients are buying say, for example, it was ProArch ProArch foot cream is going to be more memorable than the other cream that they're selling. And then they're gonna keep coming back to Prior Arch to get their foot cream, and then maybe Prior Arch can sell that foot cream to another podiatric clinic if that's what they want to do. Or maybe have it in outlets in other areas in their local area, and it's all based on something that they've actually created that they were doing anyway. They're already selling the cream.

No. That that's a perfect example. I also, you know, just listen to you talk about that. Reminds me of, you know, there are different places. You know, we've talked a lot about kind of talking in partnership with running shoe stores, but there's also, you know, whether it's a marathon or a half marathon, there's a lot of different running clubs in different, you know, different cities and different towns.

And probably each of those, you know, clubs has 20 to 30 to maybe even hun a hundred or so members in the club. So not all of them probably have a podiatrist they turn to. So an opportunity to kind of create maybe a one off running injuries talk or, you know, a q and a with a podiatrist at that club can be an easy way for you to, you know, not just have to worry about, you know, getting kinda one on one with people and getting your name out there. It can be an opportunity to get in front of 50 to a hundred people, maybe even opening up to the public. Just a way to kinda let people know that that you exist.

And if you do wanna do sports medicine and you do wanna do running, it's a great way to kind of network with folks, but also kind of multiply the number of people that know you exist and that you provide that type of care.

Yeah. And I think with all these ideas that we're discussing is don't sit there and just let it percolate in your own head, is talk about this particular episode. Grab a bottle of Ned whiskey if you happen to be in Australia and sit down with your team, crack it open, have a bit of a sip, go to YouTube, and have a look at some of the videos that they've created to do with how they're promoting it through, you know, the sounds of Maroons and the sounds of Bathurst. Watch that as a team. Have a sip of the whiskey whether you like it or not, and then go, okay.

Let's brainstorm. What can we do? What are the ideas? Because I think there's there's power in bringing bringing minds together. There's there's power in teamwork, but also you never know the superpowers, and I've mentioned this before, of some of your team members where they might just be bloody brilliant at this stuff, yet they're just answering the phone at the moment.

Or you've got them as a podiatrist doing podiatry work, but they've got, I mean, real skills in this particular area. And if you give them the opportunity to to do something with it over a whiskey or you might have a coffee instead, then you you'd be surprised what you can come up with.

Now there's like the Ned whiskey stuff, there's definitely ways to be innovative and create new opportunities that may not be visible to you at the time. But if you take some time, like we talked about, whether it be whiskey or coffee, have a little bit of time to brainstorm, you know, just throwing up ideas out there, not that you have to do, you know, all of them or any of them, but just get the juices flowing a little bit so you can kinda figure out, you know, where are those kind of intersections between the kind of care you wanna provide and maybe some of it just was kind of you're blind to before, but maybe a, you know, a a population of folks or a few folks that could really benefit from your services and your care.

Yeah. The plan was I was supposed to actually have a can here to show it to you, but I I drank them. I bought a 10 pack, and I thought, oh, I'll have these here for next week for Jim. I could grab an empty can if you want me to show. I'll show you afterwards.

I'll show you what the empty can looks like.

So the plan.

But the the other part too, when you come up with a unique idea, something gets a little bit different, and it doesn't need to be crazy. Yeah. I'm not saying that you should hook hook speakers up to your orthotics and and sell them that way. But when you do come up with something that's just a little bit different or something that is unique, and I've mentioned before that in my podiatry clinic, each of the consultation rooms, instead of having Room 1, Room 2, Room 3, we had them themed with superheroes. Spider Man room, Superman room, Green Lantern.

Even the the bathroom door had god's the Thor's hammer on there because he was the god of thunder, and the staff room was the back cave. We sort of themed everything. It was surprising the amount of patients that you bump into someone outside, and they would talk about your clinic. Oh, I hear that you've just added this into the Superman room. Yes.

We have. So when you do something that's a bit different, it makes people talk. No different to how you and I are talking now about Ned whiskey. There'll be people that are listening to this who go, I've seen Ned whiskey, but I've never really thought about it. That will go and buy a bottle now.

I went and saw a friend last week, and I was telling him about this. So we get together once a week, and we do some Muay Thai together. He's got a gym set up at his house. After one of the sessions, I took a couple of cans of Ned's with me, Ned whiskey. We drank them after the session, as you do, after a good hard session, like to have a beverage afterwards to rehydrate.

But then later that night oh, no. The next day, he sends me a picture. He goes, look what you started. And then he had gone out and bought a 10 pack. So it's because I'd I'd seen the marketing.

I went and bought some. I tried it. I liked it. I talked to a friend about it. I gave him one.

Then he goes and buys a 10 pack. We're talking about it now on the podcast, and there'll be people who listen to this go, but I'm at the bottle shop next, I'm gonna look for it, and they'll buy some. And Ned's is not paying us 1¢ for this.

The power of word-of-mouth is as much as things are turning digital and online, those kind of things, it is pretty powerful stuff when you have that word-of-mouth.

It's just I think it's incredible when you do something that's a little bit different. Now you can just do everything the same way that everybody else is doing it, and you're not gonna stand out in any way. Is Ned whiskey the best whiskey in Australia? I don't know. I haven't drank them all, but theirs is nice, and it is different.

When I bought it originally, I was thinking, is it gonna be more like a scotch whiskey, or is it gonna be more like an American bourbon? And I'm partial to either. And it's sort of it's somewhere in between. It's got a it's got a very unique taste to it. Like I said, I'm not being paid for my comments.

But, Ned, if you're listening, by all means, reach out, and and I'll tell I'll give him my postal address.

The first sponsor for the podiatry marketing podcast is a whiskey brand. That that'd be pretty interesting.

That would be pretty awesome, I think. So I don't have anything else I want to cover on this. Like I said, this was just a it was a different idea that I thought. I wanted people to think outside the box a little bit, and always look at what other businesses are doing and think to yourself, how could I apply that to podiatry? Doesn't need to be something you would go, oh, yeah.

I'm gonna introduce whiskey into my clinic. But it's just there's so many cool things that other businesses are doing, and I think if you sit back and you just take the time and go, how can I apply that? And then bring it up at team meetings, you'll be amazed what you can you can end up doing. Some of the best ideas I ever had in my podiatry clinic came about by what I saw other businesses doing.

Yep. There's definitely a lot of unique opportunities out there. So, you know, kind of keep your mind open and ideas from all over the place can kinda come in there and, you know, maybe marinate a little bit, and you you'd be surprised some of the good ideas you you and your staff can come up with. So thanks so much for this little bit of a different topic today and the the history lesson lesson today from Australia. I'm sure that the the listeners will go in now and do what I did and check out YouTube a little bit, and maybe watch some Ned Kelly clips and learn about him and his armor and, you know, his his end there in the Melbourne what?

He hung in in the Melbourne Jail prisons.

Old Melbourne Jail. Yeah. It's been a history lesson today. So I would like this to be an educational podcast as well. So, Jim, I look forward to talking to you next week.

See you later.

Sounds good, Tyson.

Okay. Bye. Thanks

for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McAnnold. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.