WorkSafe asks New Zealanders to listen to their inner-meerkats in new campaign via FCB NZ
Worksafe and FCB New Zealand have launched a wild new campaign, challenging New Zealanders to take a fresh look at workplace safety. The launch TVC, hitting screens big and small this week, asks workers to be more vigilant and proactive, by listening to their inner-meerkats.
Old Safety vs New Safety
Historically, workers have been told to follow the rules in order to be safe. And, to be fair, the rules are great for the basics, like “Wear a hardhat.” But you can’t write a rule for absolutely everything. The new kind of safety asks that workers are more proactive. It asks them to look for the signs of danger and, if they think something could go wrong, step in and stop it.
In the last five years, WorkSafe has recorded 363 workplace deaths and more than 120,000 workplace injuries resulting in a week away from work. This is an issue that WorkSafe are asking New Zealanders to look at with fresh eyes and take a new approach to. As such, the campaign aims to empower workers to be more involved and to speak up. It focuses on the insight that we all have a sense for danger – we can see the signs and figure out what could go wrong – so, it’s up to each of us to do our part.
Says Chris Green, marketing manager, WorkSafe: “Ultimately, we needed a campaign that empowers all in the workplace to take action if they are concerned about something going wrong. From the shop floor to the boardroom.
“This is about moving away from considering health and safety as clipboards and checklists – to really caring about people. Meerkats have each other’s backs and New Zealanders should have each other’s too.”
The hero TVC – a product of the film direction of Sweetshop’s Mark Albiston and the visual effects wizardry of Blockhead VFX – has been a labour of love. It leads an integrated campaign which will extend into OOH, digital and social, with a series of heroic portraits shot by Match Photographers’ Ross Brown.
It’s a bold new direction for Worksafe, as Leisa Wall and Peter Vegas, executive creative directors at FCB note: “We really admire WorkSafe for their bravery. They knew that if they wanted to create real behaviour change and a platform that’s going to last, they’d need to do something radically different. They took the leap with us and we couldn’t be more proud of the result.”
Client: WorkSafe
Agency: FCB New Zealand
Creative: David Shirley
Creative: Melina Fiolitakis
Production Company: Sweetshop
Director: Mark Albiston
Executive Producer: Ben Dailey
Executive Producer: Kate Roydhouse
Producer: Larisa Tiffin
DOP: Marty Williams
Production Designer: Neville Stevenson
Offline editor: Luke Haigh
Character Design, Animation & Visual Effects: Blockhead
Sound design & Original Soundtrack: Cam Ballantyne
Stills photography: Ross Brown
8 Comments
Nice.
Firstly, amazing craft. Direction, casting and especially music, fantastic… Well done.
But… what’s with the meerkats? I saw the ad on Facebook last night (without seeing this press release) and had no idea why they were there. Now I read here that as soon as people see meerkats they think “senses danger well.” Really?
I hope the general public watch a lot more Animal Planet than I do…
I never got the meerkat thing. Never heard of my ‘inner meerkat’. Have I been living underground?
This is up there with the NZ Post cat ad: a bit confusing and doesn’t make sense.
Nicely crafted, but took a few watches to really get it…
So I’m not sure it’ll resonate with your average forklift driver. Award judges though…
Nice ad – wrong client.
Yeah it’s well shot etc, but I’m left feeling a bit ‘huh?’ at the end of it. It would have made just as much sense and been just as good without the meerkats.
I doubt most people commenting here have actually worked with forklift drivers. I do. They’ll watch this on smoko, crack up, or go WTF then show their workmates. Job done. Bonus if they start impersonating meerkats. Oh and it happens to be exceptionally well crafted so great work by all involved. Maybe the salty few on here need to go tour the factory sometime.
@forklift driver – My first job was a forklift driver, did it for 18 months, so I guess I can talk from experience.
As I said, never heard the term. The ad is a big ask.
But hey, it’s a 90 second ad. Well done to the agency for squeezing the dollars out of the client for this. It’s delightfully indulgent.
Hope the agency made a lot of money.
The ASA complaints practically write themselves!