Air New Zealand: Summer Wonderland, 3

Credits & Description:

Title: Summer Wonderland
Agency: Host Sydney
Brand: Air New Zealand
Country: United Kingdom
Entrant Company: Universal Music Group & Brands, London
Advertising Agency: Host Sydney
Production Company: Host Sydney
Creative Director: Andrew Dengate (Host Sydney)
Gm, Brand Partnerships: Roddy Campbell (Universal Music Group International)
Strategy:
The overarching aim was to create a piece of content that would entertain a broad audience with the juxtaposition of a highly recognisable artist in an unfamiliar setting. We knew if we got the feel good factor right, the campaign could thrive in social media without any amplification. The artist’s social channels were engaged as well as the promotional department at the record label to further drive awareness. Another ambition of the campaign was to impact local pop culture, in particular the music charts at the same time giving people a new, more relatable tune to play whilst unwrapping the Christmas presents!
Relevancy:
Challenger brands are under pressure to come up with work that breaks the mould. With their campaign, Air NZ wanted to appeal to an audience very much in the midst of deep winter. By cleverly flipping a culturally resonant song and reshaping it to highlight the brighter potential of a summer Christmas, Air NZ were able to generate incredible buzz around them as a carrier and their host nation that they are proud to serve, all whilst giving people cause to chuckle along the way.
Outcome:
- Trending on Facebook and YouTube within 48 hours.- 15 million + views in month 1 (84% organic).- With over 140,000 shares, Summer Wonderland quickly overtook the hugely successful Hobbit Safety Video and last year’s Santa Stop Here film to become Air New Zealand’s most shared content. - Gained traction with 50 + international publishers, including MTV, Daily Mail, The Sun, and Twitter Moments.- Summer Wonderland featured in Mumbrella’s Best Ads of 2016, and was the year’s most watched ad on YouTube in NZ.- Summer Wonderland Snapchat filter became Air NZ’s most successful Snapchat advertising initiative to date.- The campaign achieved total PR reach of over 500 million (96.6% positive sentiment score).- Best of all, the official Summer Wonderland track beat artists like Taylor Swift and Zayn to reach #1 on the New Zealand iTunes and #9 on the Australian charts.
Synopsis:
Without the budgets of bigger multinational carriers, Air New Zealand has forged a global reputation by over-indexing on highly creative, shareable work; designed to earn its own media in social channels. It’s an objective with everything from their retail banners to their safety videos. And, over Christmas, the brief was no different. After all, Christmas and travel go hand in hand. Air New Zealand wanted to build brand fame and foster pride among kiwis, both at home and abroad. Problem is, Christmas advertising has become dominated by bigger brands with bigger budgets, all shouting for attention.We needed to cut through the noise with something special.
Execution:
The campaign came together very quickly with only 3 short weeks from talent identification to filming. The content was shot at Universal’s brand new state of the art studio, Forbes St Studio with the audio recording produced on the same day. Roughly two weeks later the content was premiered on the brands You Tube channel with an announcement via Press Release and Ronan Keating’s social channels. Within a day, facebook feeds were filling with the shared link and breakfast TV was organically covering the phenomenon.
Campaign Description:
Christmas is a crowded time for advertising, but it’s crowded with the same exact thing: emotional stories wrapped in traditional themes of frosty snowmen, frightful weather, roaring fireplaces and kisses under mistletoe.Sadly, for those in the Southern Hemisphere, those clichés don’t represent Christmas at all.So we were going to stand out in a Northern Hemisphere-dominated occasion by bucking tradition and becoming the champions of a Southern Hemisphere Christmas. How? By showing that you don’t need Winter to enjoy a Wonderland. Partnering multi-Platinum selling artist Ronan Keating with young kiwi upstart Julian Dennison (Hunt For The Wilderpeople), we updated Winter Wonderland and turned it into Summer Wonderland; a new anthem that the warmer half of the world could rally behind. But Summer Wonderland wasn’t just a song. It was a socially-driven tourism campaign that went on to become a genuine part of Kiwi and Aussie culture.