New Zealand’s Cannes Contenders: Colenso BBDO, AIM Proximity and TBWA\Tequila

After last year’s brilliant effort at Cannes – New Zealand was ranked 9th in the world – how will NZ perform at Cannes this year?Over the next week in the lead up to the Festival, Campaign Briefwill be showcasing the work we hope will impress the judges…

Westpac ‘Impulse Saver’

An app for instant saving came from an idea put forward by Ogilvy UK’s Rory Sutherland at last year’s TED conference.

Pedigree ‘Home Alone’

To promote the importance of Omega 3 in Pedigree’s puppy range, Colenso BBDO developed a series of posters. Each one shows how smarter dogs solve complex dog problems via a flow diagram.

Levis ‘Rear View Girls’

Colenso BBDO Auckland was behind an international online web film campaign for Levi’s latest Curve ID Skinny Jeans which attracted over 5 million viewers on YouTube in only six days. The unbranded web film – the connection to Levi’s was yet to be revealed – shows two hot Kiwi girls in Los Angeles who have rigged the back of their jeans so that they catch people checking out their asses.

Pedigree ‘Doggelganger’

A campaign using facial recognition software to connect homeless dogs to their human doubles. In 2010 Colenso began work with facial recognition experts, NEC to develop human to canine pairing software, designed to connect real homeless dogs to their human doubles. 

Go Girls ‘Virginity Map’

Go Girls is a popular New Zealand drama series with women aged 18-29, now in its second season. Since the plot lines of Go Girls usually revolve around “who’s sleeping with whom?” Aim Proximity Auckland built a cheeky website where users could find intimate knowledge about the show’s characters and share some of their own. With Google maps as our navigation tool we developed the Go Girls Virginity Map. Visitors to the site are invited to place a virtual pin on the location of where they “lost theirs” and add a rating and commentary if they like. They kicked off with the main characters from the show and pin by pin their map of New Zealand filled with confessions from their fan base.

Adidas ‘Super Obsessed’

2011 marks the first year that adidas has offered a full compliment of Super Rugby supporters’ apparel. Rather than creating a traditional catalogue, the agency showcased the new range using a mix of video and flash animation to create a series of interactive videos at adidas.com/superobsessed. Fans were integral in creating the online catalogue from the beginning. Using social networks, fans from around New Zealand were given the opportunity to spend the day with their Super Rugby heroes while being filmed for the interactive catalogue. They were filmed swarming players from each Super Rugby franchise,while wearing the new merchandise. These videos were shot at 1000 frames per second.This allows website users to interact with the super slow motion videos exploring each piece of Super Rugby apparel to find out more information, driving them to their local adidas store for purchasing.

Multiple Sclerosis Society ‘The War Inside’

Multiple Sclerosis causes scars on the brain that disrupt the messages to your body. When your brain and body can’t communicate, it can feel like they’re at war. The campaign from TBWA Tequila Auckland represents this inner battle using the contrast between cat vs dog, and hunter vs deer. The conflicting images show what it must feel like for a sufferer of MS and how hard it can be to control their own body.

Adidas All Blacks ‘Give your all’

With only a year to go to the Rugby World Cup, which will be hosted in New Zealand, the All Blacks couldn’t afford to be complacent. The All Blacks might be the No1 ranked rugby team in the world (according to IRB rankings) but they also have a well-deserved reputation for being ‘the best team be
tween world cups’ which goes on to fail miserably during the tournament itself. In fact, it’s not unusual for the ABs to thrash the opposition during the Tri-Nations, and the Northern Hemisphere tours, before ‘choking’ at the world cup, which they haven’t won since 1987. So the agency concentrated on building grass roots support for the team, knowing full well that when the fans give their all, the All Blacks are more likely to give their all too. So all activity was focused on celebrating the contribution of the 16th man: the fan. Print and OOH paid homage to All Blacks fans, and directed them to our online hub at facebook.com/ AllBlacks . The agency then shot candid footage of the All Blacks surprising real fans in the most unlikely of places: knocking on doors in a Taranaki Street, dropping in on a ladies knitting group in Dunedin, and paying a surprise visit to a Northland primary School, all of which was shared on facebook to the delight of the AB’s half a million fans.

Radio Hauraki ‘Bomb Iran’

The task was to re-capture the revolutionary spirit of New Zealand’s original pirate rock radio station.