Karangahape Road Business Association launches new ‘Be Our Guest’ campaign via Motion Sickness

Karangahape Road Business Association and Motion Sickness take a prod at the tourism industry’s tired clichés and celebrate local businesses in new ‘Be Our Guest’ campaign.

Launching this week, the new ‘Be Our Guest’ campaign takes the tourism industry head on, juxtaposing shamelessly corny tourism industry headlines with a series of gritty, no frills Karangahape Road portraits.

For almost 100 years the Karangahape Road Business Association (KBA) has been an advocate and support network for business owners along Auckland’s most iconic strip. With Karangahape Road holding its official reopening ceremony in June of 2021, ‘Be Our Guest’ provided a perfect opportunity to go all in on an unapologetic celebration of the precinct’s iconic people, places and energy.

Says Michael Richardson, KBA manger/CEO: “The KBA and our business community are thrilled Karangahape Road has such a strong and unique identity, and our businesses represent the most diverse and compelling offerings. There is something amazing and exciting here for everyone. You’ll find the owner working in every business, which is why you feel so welcome.“

Says Sam Stuchbury, creative director, Motion Sickness: “There’s a lot of tourism marketing out there right now, some really good and some, well, a little bit corny…We knew to be authentically Karangahape Road we needed a creative angle that had a bit of grit, to it to ensure it stood out from other precinct brands. We landed on pairing the usually common tourism one-liners with gritty images of quintessentially Karangahape Road moments. It feels like a winner and should shine a bit of attention on what makes K Road beautifully unique.”

Says Will Macdonald, creative at Motion Sickness: “From the outset we knew we had a huge abundance of material. Karangahape Road is brimming with energy and from a production standpoint it allowed us to operate with an almost documentary style approach, capturing Karangahape in all its natural glory. This was made easy with the collaboration of the great team at the KBA and the generosity of the business owners who gave us amazing access.”

Says Renee Coulter, owner of Coco’s Cantina: “You can walk the length of Karangahape, not spend any money and still have an experience that will bring you back. So the opportunity to have a campaign that channeled that energy whilst almost putting businesses at the forefront was compelling.”

Lisa McMillan, KBA marketing manager says a close working relationship with Motion Sickness was crucial to generating an authentic campaign: “It has been exciting working with Motion Sickness on a campaign that has the potential to run on and on, exhibiting the raw nature of Karangahape Road that makes it so attractive to businesses and visitors alike.”

‘Be Our Guest’ runs until August across street posters, Auckland Domestic Airport, social channels and online video and display.

Karangahape Road Business Association Team: Michael Richardson, Lisa McMillan.
Creative Director: Sam Stuchbury
Creative/Photographer: Freddy Riddiford
Creative: Will Macdonald
Designer: Nick Jamieson
Head of Media: Josh Hawke